Desi (or Deshi; pronounce [ˈd̪eːsi] or [ˈd̪eːʃi], Hindi: देशी, Urdu: دیسی, Punjabi: ਦੇਸੀ, دیسی) is a Hindi/Urdu word literally meaning "of the country." In North America and Great Britain, it is used colloquially to mean South Asian immigrants and their descendants. This self-referential colloquialism for those of South Asian heritage living outside the Indian subcontinent was created in the United Kingdom during the early 1960s to late 1980s and is sometimes pronounced "dezzi." A similar (non-pejorative) self-referential word used by Italian-Americans is Paesano (often shortened to Paesan or used incorrectly as Paisan), meaning "countryman".