Blighty an informal and often affectionate term for Britain or England, chiefly as used by soldiers of the First and Second World Wars (in the First World War, a wound which was sufficiently serious to merit being shipped home to Britain was known as a Blighty).

The term was first used by soldiers serving in India, and is an Anglo-Indian alteration of Urdu bilāyatī ‘foreign, European’, from Arabic wilāyat, wilāya ‘dominion, district’.

Blighty (army sl.) England, home. XX. contr. form, originating in the Indian army, of Hind. bilāyatī foreign, (esp.) European, f. Arab. wilāyat inhabited country, district.