Chowhury (Urdu: چودہری, Bengali: চৌধুরী) is a term in Indo-Aryan languages, literally meaning "a holder of four" or "owner of the fourth part". Traditionally, the term is used as a title indicating the ownership of ancestral land, but now-a-days it is often taken as a surname. The word is variously spelt in different areas (see the spelling section below).