02 October 2008

Hindi Word of the Day Archives for September 2008

This month's selection of words is a (mostly) totally random collection. For a while there at the beginning of the month, I thought I had come to the end of my Hindi vocabulary limits (I hadn't been watching too many Hindi movies recently), but some good suggestions got me back on track (shukriyaa Anarchivist, for suggesting milaap, tuufaan, insaan, nasiib, and qasam!).

phuul (flower)

dhuup (sunlight, the sun)

baal (hair); zulfein (tresses, locks)

raaz (a secret, a mystery)

lenaa (to take, to receive)

likhnaa (to write); lekh (something written); lekhaanii (writing instrument)

zaruurii, zaruudii (necessary)

agar (if)

denaa (to give, to let)

milaap (meeting; mixing; union, harmony; reconciliation)

tuufaan (a storm of wind and rain)

insaan (a man, human being); insaanii (human); insaaniyat (humanity)

piiche (behind, afterwards, later, back, ago)

uthnaa (to rise up, to get up, to stand up); uthaanaa (to lift, raise, pick up)

nasiib (destiny, fate, fortune)

qasam (an oath)

farz (duty, obligation)

qarz (a debt, loan)

ajnabii (a stranger)

dushman (enemy, adversary)

bhaasa (language)

bhii (even, too, also, as much as, still)

phir (again, then, next); phir bhii (even so)

lagnaa (to seem, to begin to); some verb forms--lagtaa, lagte, lagaa, lagii

pahle (before)

gandaa (dirty)

bajaa, baje (o'clock [singular, plural]); ek bajaa (one o'clock); do baje (two o'clock)

paas (nearby)

lifaafaa (envelope)

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Disclaimers:

I am not a native Hindi speaker. The words I list are either ones I have picked up by watching Bollywood movies or from perusing my Hindi reference books, including Teach Yourself Beginner's Hindi Script, Teach Yourself Hindi Dictionary, Teach Yourself Hindi Complete Course, Living Language Hindi Complete Course, and best of all, the enormous Oxford Hindi-English Dictionary. Despite all these reference sources, it is still totally possible that I read something wrong or misunderstood it--so keep in mind that this list is made by someone who's only been watching Hindi movies on a regular basis since November 2007 and has no previous experience with the language.

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