his article is about Modern Standard Hindi. For other uses, see Hindi (disambiguation).

Not to be confused with Hindu or Sindhi.

Hindi

Modern Standard Hindi

हिन्दी • Hindī

The word "Hindi" in Devanagari script

Pronunciatio [ˈɦɪndiː]

Native to India

Region Western Uttar Pradesh, Delhi

Total L1: 350 million speakers of Hindi and various

related languages who reported their language
speakers
as 'Hindi' (2011 census)[1][2]
L2: 260 million (2020)[3]

Language Indo-European
family
 Indo-Iranian
o Indo-Aryan
 Central Zone
 We
ste
rn
Hin
di[4]

Hi

Early forms Shauraseni Prakrit

  Shauraseni Apabhraṃśa
o Old Hindi
 Hindustani

Dialects  See Hindi languages

Writing  Devanagari (official)

system  Kaithi (historical)
 Mahajani (historical)
 Laṇḍā (historical)[5]
 Latin (Hinglish, unofficial[6])
 Devanagari Braille

Signed forms Signed Hindi

Official status

Official India[a]
language in

Recognised South Africa[b][16]

minority United Arab Emirates[c][17]
language in

Regulated by Central Hindi Directorate[18]

Language codes
hi
ISO 639-1
hin
ISO 639-2
hin
ISO 639-3

Linguist List hin-hin

hind1269
Glottolog
59-AAF-qf
Linguaspher

e
Distribution of L1 self-reported speakers of Hindi in India as per
the 2011 Census
Part of a series on

Constitutionally recognised languages of India

Category

22 Official Languages of the Indian Republic

 Assamese

Bengali
 Boro (Bodo)
 Dogri
 Gujarati
 Hindi
 Kannada
 Kashmiri
 Konkani
 Maithili
 Malayalam
 Marathi
 Meitei (Manipuri)
 Nepali
 Odia
 Punjabi
 Sanskrit
 Santali
  Sindhi
 Tamil
 Telugu
 Urdu
Related
 Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India
 Official Languages Commission
 Classical Languages of India
 List of languages by number of native
speakers in India
 Asia portal
 India portal
 Language portal
 Politics portal

Modern Standard Hindi (Hindi: आधुनिक मानक हिन्दी, Ādhunik Mānak Hindī),[19] commonly
referred to as Hindi (Hindi: हिन्दी,[d] Hindī), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in North
India, and serves as the lingua franca of the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts
of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been described as
a standardised and Sanskritised register[20] of the Hindustani language, which itself is based
primarily on the Khariboli dialect of Delhi and neighbouring areas of North India.[21][22][23] Hindi,
written in the Devanagari script, is one of the two official languages of the Government of India,
along with English.[24] It is an official language in nine states and three union territories and an
additional official language in three other states.[25][26][27][28] Hindi is also one of the 22 scheduled
languages of the Republic of India.[29]
Hindi is also spoken, to a lesser extent, in other parts of India (usually in a simplified or
pidginised variety such as Bazaar Hindustani or Haflong Hindi).[25][26] Outside India, several other
languages are recognised officially as "Hindi" but do not refer to the Standard Hindi language
described here and instead descend from other nearby languages, such as Awadhi
language and Bhojpuri language. Such languages include Fiji Hindi, which has an official status
in Fiji,[30] and Caribbean Hindustani, which is spoken in Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago,
and Guyana.[31][32][33][34] Apart from the script and formal vocabulary, standard Hindi is mutually
intelligible with standard Urdu, another recognised register of Hindustani as both share a
common colloquial base.[35]
Hindi is the fourth most-spoken first language in the world, after Mandarin, Spanish and English.
[36]
If counted together with the mutually intelligible Urdu, it is the third most-spoken language in
the world, after Mandarin and English.[37][38] According to reports of Ethnologue (2022, 25th edition)
Hindi is the third most-spoken language in the world including first and second
language speakers.[39]
Hindi is the fastest growing language of India, followed by Kashmiri in the second place,
with Meitei (officially called Manipuri) as well as Gujarati, in the third place, and Bengali in the
fourth place, according to the 2011 census of India.[40]

Terminology
The term Hindī originally was used to refer to inhabitants of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It was
borrowed from Classical Persian ‫ هندی‬Hindī (Iranian Persian pronunciation: Hendi), meaning "of
or belonging to Hind (India)" (hence, "Indian").[41]

Another name Hindavī (हिन्दवी) or Hinduī (हिन्दुई) (from Persian: ‫" هندوی‬of or belonging to the
Hindu/Indian people") was often used in the past, for example by Amir Khusrau in his poetry.[42][43]
The terms "Hindi" and "Hindu" trace back to Old Persian which derived these names from
the Sanskrit name Sindhu (सिन्धु), referring to the Indus River. The Greek cognates of the same
terms are "Indus" (for the river) and "India" (for the land of the river).[44][45]
The term Modern Standard Hindi is commonly used to specifically refer the modern literary Hindi
language, as opposed to colloquial and regional varieties that are also referred to as Hindi in a
wider sense.[46]

History
Further information: History of Hindustani

Middle Indo-Aryan to Hindi

Like other Indo-Aryan languages, Hindi is a direct descendant of an early form of Vedic Sanskrit,
through Shauraseni Prakrit and Śauraseni Apabhraṃśa (from Sanskrit apabhraṃśa "corrupt"),
which emerged in the 7th century CE.[47]
The sound changes that characterised the transition from Middle Indo-Aryan to Hindi are: [48]

 Compensatory lengthening of vowels preceding geminate consonants, sometimes

with spontaneous nasalisation: Skt. hasta "hand" > Pkt. hattha > hāth
 Loss of all word-final vowels: rātri "night" > rattī > rāt
 Formation of nasalised long vowels from nasal consonants (-VNC- > -
V̄̃C-): bandha "bond" > bā̃dh
 Loss of unaccented or unstressed short vowels (reflected in schwa
deletion): susthira "firm" > sutthira > suthrā
 Collapsing of adjacent vowels (including separated by a hiatus: apara "other"
> avara > aur
 Final -m to -ṽ: grāma "village" > gāma > gāṽ
 Intervocalic -ḍ- to -ṛ- or -l-: taḍāga "pond" > talāv, naḍa "reed" > nal.
 v > b: vivāha "marriage" > byāh
Hindustani
During the period of Delhi Sultanate, which covered most of today's north India, eastern
Pakistan, southern Nepal and Bangladesh[49] and which resulted in the contact of Hindu and
Muslim cultures, the Sanskrit and Prakrit base of Old Hindi became enriched with loanwords
from Persian, evolving into the present form of Hindustani.[50][51][52][53][54][55] The Hindustani vernacular
became an expression of Indian national unity during the Indian Independence movement,[56]
[57]
and continues to be spoken as the common language of the people of the northern Indian
subcontinent,[58] which is reflected in the Hindustani vocabulary of Bollywood films and songs.[59][60]
Standard Hindi is based on the Delhi dialect,[47] the vernacular of Delhi and the surrounding
region, which came to replace earlier prestige languages such as Awadhi and Braj. It has come
out from the extraction of Persian and Arabic words from the Persianised variant of the
Hindustani language (Urdu),[61] which became the literary language from the 18th century. Earliest
examples could be found as Prēm Sāgar by Lallu Lal, Batiyāl Pachīsī of Sadal Misra, and Rānī
Kētakī Kī Kahānī of Insha Allah Khan which were published in Devanagari script during early of
the 19th centuries.[62]
Major Hindustani writers continued to refer to their tongue as Hindi or Hindavi till the early of
19th century.[63]
As Mirza Galib says in his Qādir Nāma written in Nastaliq script:[64]

नेवला रासू है और ताऊस मोर, Nevla is rasu (mongoose) and Taus is mor (peacock),
Kabk is uttered as Chakor (Ptarmigan) in Hindi
कब्क को हिन्दी में कहते हैं चकोर

John Gilchrist was principally known for his study of the Hindustani language, which was adopted
as the lingua franca of northern India (including what is now present-day Pakistan) by British
colonists and indigenous people. He compiled and authored An English-Hindustani Dictionary, A
Grammar of the Hindoostanee Language, The Oriental Linguist, and many more. His lexicon of
Hindustani was published in the Perso-Arabic script, Nāgarī script, and in Roman
transliteration.In the late 19th century, a movement to further develop Hindi as a standardised
form of Hindustani separate from Urdu took form.[65] In 1881, Bihar accepted Hindi as its sole
official language, replacing Urdu, and thus became the first state of India to adopt Hindi.
[66]
However, in 2014, Urdu was accorded second official language status in the state. [67]
Independent India
After independence, the Government of India instituted the following conventions: [original research?]

 Standardisation of grammar: In 1954, the Government of India set up a committee to

prepare a grammar of Hindi; The committee's report was released in 1958 as A
Basic Grammar of Modern Hindi.[68]
 Standardisation of the orthography, using the Devanagari script, by the Central Hindi
Directorate of the Ministry of Education and Culture to bring about uniformity in
writing, to improve the shape of some Devanagari characters, and introducing
diacritics to express sounds from other languages.
On 14 September 1949, the Constituent Assembly of India adopted Hindi written in the
Devanagari script as the official language of the Republic of India replacing Urdu's previous
usage in the British Indian Empire.[69][70][71] To this end, several stalwarts rallied and lobbied pan-
India in favour of Hindi, most notably Beohar Rajendra Simha along with Hazari Prasad
Dwivedi, Kaka Kalelkar, Maithili Sharan Gupt and Seth Govind Das who even debated in
Parliament on this issue. As such, on the 50th birthday of Beohar Rajendra Simha on 14
September 1949, the efforts came to fruition following the adoption of Hindi as the official
language.[72] Now, it is celebrated as Hindi Day.[73]

Official status
India
Part XVII of the Indian Constitution deals with the official language of the Indian Commonwealth.
Under Article 343, the official languages of the Union have been prescribed, which includes Hindi
in Devanagari script and English:
(1) The official language of the Union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script. The form of numerals to
be used for the official purposes of the Union shall be the international form of Indian numerals. [31]
(2) Notwithstanding anything in clause (1), for a period of fifteen years from the commencement
of this Constitution, the English language shall continue to be used for all the official purposes of
the Union for which it was being used immediately before such commencement: Provided that
the President may, during the said period, by order authorise the use of the Hindi language in
addition to the English language and of the Devanagari form of numerals in addition to the
international form of Indian numerals for any of the official purposes of the Union. [74]
Article 351 of the Indian constitution states:
It shall be the duty of the Union to promote the spread of the Hindi language, to develop it so that
it may serve as a medium of expression for all the elements of the composite culture of India and
to secure its enrichment by assimilating without interfering with its genius, the forms, style and
expressions used in Hindustani and in the other languages of India specified in the Eighth
Schedule, and by drawing, wherever necessary or desirable, for its vocabulary, primarily on
Sanskrit and secondarily on other languages.
It was envisioned that Hindi would become the sole working language of the Union Government
by 1965 (per directives in Article 344 (2) and Article 351),[75] with state governments being free to
function in the language of their own choice. However, widespread resistance to the imposition of
Hindi on non-native speakers, especially in South India (such as those in Tamil Nadu) led to the
passage of the Official Languages Act of 1963, which provided for the continued use of English
indefinitely for all official purposes, although the constitutional directive for the Union Government
to encourage the spread of Hindi was retained and has strongly influenced its policies. [76]
Article 344 (2b) stipulates that the official language commission shall be constituted every ten
years to recommend steps for progressive use of Hindi language and imposing restrictions on
the use of the English language by the union government. In practice, the official language
commissions are constantly endeavouring to promote Hindi but not imposing restrictions on
English in official use by the union government.
At the state level, Hindi is the official language of the following Indian
states: Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya
Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.[77] Hindi is an official language of Gujarat,
along with Gujarati.[78] It acts as an additional official language of West Bengal in blocks and sub-
divisions with more than 10% of the population speaking Hindi.[79][80][81] Similarly, Hindi is accorded
the status of official language in the following Union Territories: Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar
Islands and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.
Although there is no specification of a national language in the constitution, it is a widely held
belief that Hindi is the national language of India. This is often a source of friction and
contentious debate.[82][83][84] In 2010, the Gujarat High Court clarified that Hindi is not the national
language of India because the constitution does not mention it as such.[85][86] In 2021, in
a Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act case involving Gangam Sudhir
Kumar Reddy, the Bombay High Court claimed Hindi is the national language while refusing
Reddy bail, after he argued against his statutory rights being read in Hindi, despite being a native
Telugu speaker. Reddy has filed a Special Leave Petition before the Supreme Court, challenging
the Bombay High Court's observation, and contended that it failed to appreciate that Hindi is not
the national language in India.[87][88][89]
In 2018, The Supreme Court has stayed a judgment of Madhya Pradesh High Court that held
that the Hindi version of enactment will prevail if there is a variation in its Hindi version and
English version. The prominence thus attached to English over Hindi in the judgement underlines
the social significance of English over Hindi.[90]
Fiji
Outside Asia, the Awadhi language (an Eastern Hindi dialect) with influence from Bhojpuri, Bihari
languages, Fijian and English is spoken in Fiji.[91][92] It is an official language in Fiji as per the 1997
Constitution of Fiji,[93] where it referred to it as "Hindustani"; however, in the 2013 Constitution of
Fiji, it is simply called "Fiji Hindi" as the official language.[94] It is spoken by 380,000 people in Fiji.
[91]

Nepal
Hindi is spoken as a first language by about 77,569 people in Nepal according to the 2011 Nepal
census, and further by 1,225,950 people as a second language.[95] A Hindi proponent, Indian-
born Paramananda Jha, was elected vice-president of Nepal. He took his oath of office in Hindi
in July 2008. This created protests in the streets for 5 days; students burnt his effigies; there was
general strike in 22 districts. Nepal Supreme Court ruled in 2009 that his oath in Hindi was invalid
and he was kept "inactive" as vice-president. An "angry" Jha said, "I cannot be compelled to take
the oath now in Nepali. I might rather take it in English."[96]
South Africa
Hindi is a protected language in South Africa. According to the Constitution of South Africa,
the Pan South African Language Board must promote and ensure respect for Hindi along with
other languages.[16] According to a doctoral dissertation by Rajend Mesthrie in 1985, although
Hindi and other Indian languages have existed in South Africa for the last 125 years, there are no
academic studies of any of them – of their use in South Africa, their evolution and current
decline.[97]
United Arab Emirates
Hindi is adopted as the third official court language in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.[e][17] As a result of
this status, the Indian workforce in UAE can file their complaints to the labour courts in the
country in their own mother-tongue.[98]

Geographical distribution
Hindi is the lingua franca of northern India (which contains the Hindi Belt), as well as an official
language of the Government of India, along with English.[74]
In Northeast India a pidgin known as Haflong Hindi has developed as a lingua franca for the
people living in Haflong, Assam who speak other languages natively.[99] In Arunachal Pradesh,
Hindi emerged as a lingua franca among locals who speak over 50 dialects natively. [100]
Hindi is quite easy to understand for many Pakistanis, who speak Urdu, which, like Hindi, is a
standard register of the Hindustani language; additionally, Indian media are widely viewed in
Pakistan.[101]
A sizeable population in Afghanistan, especially in Kabul, can also speak and understand Hindi-
Urdu due to the popularity and influence of Bollywood films, songs and actors in the region.[102][103]
Hindi is also spoken by a large population of Madheshis (people having roots in north-India but
having migrated to Nepal over hundreds of years) of Nepal. Apart from this, Hindi is spoken by
the large Indian diaspora which hails from, or has its origin from the "Hindi Belt" of India. A
substantially large North Indian diaspora lives in countries like the United States of America, the
United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, South
Africa, Fiji and Mauritius, where it is natively spoken at home and among their own Hindustani-
speaking communities. Outside India, Hindi speakers are 8 million in Nepal; 863,077 in
the United States of America;[104][105] 450,170 in Mauritius; 380,000 in Fiji;[91] 250,292 in South
Africa; 150,000 in Suriname;[106] 100,000 in Uganda; 45,800 in the United Kingdom;[107] 20,000
in New Zealand; 20,000 in Germany; 26,000 in Trinidad and Tobago;[106] 3,000 in Singapore.

Comparison with Standard Urdu

Main articles: Hindi–Urdu controversy, Hindustani phonology, and Hindustani grammar
Linguistically, Hindi and Urdu are two registers of the same language and are mutually
intelligible.[108] Both Hindi and Urdu share a core vocabulary of native Prakrit and Sanskrit-derived
words.[35][109][110] However, Hindi is written in the Devanagari script and contains more Sanskrit-
derived words than Urdu, whereas Urdu is written in the Perso-Arabic script and uses more
Arabic and Persian loanwords compared to Hindi.[111] Because of this, as well as the fact that the
two registers share an identical grammar,[23][35][109] a consensus of linguists consider them to be two
standardised forms of the same language, Hindustani or Hindi-Urdu.[108][23][35][22] Hindi is the most
commonly used scheduled language in India and is one of the two official languages of the
union,[112] the other being English. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan and
is one of 22 scheduled languages of India, also having official status in Uttar Pradesh, Jammu
and Kashmir, Delhi, Telangana,[113] Andhra Pradesh[114] and Bihar.[115]

Script
Main article: Devanagari
Hindi is written in the Devanagari script, an abugida. Devanagari consists of 11 vowels and
33 consonants and is written from left to right. Unlike Sanskrit, Devanagari is not entirely
phonetic for Hindi, especially failing to mark schwa deletion in spoken Standard Hindi.[116]
Romanization
Main article: Devanagari transliteration
The Government of India uses Hunterian transliteration as its official system of writing Hindi in
the Latin script. Various other systems also exist, such as IAST, ITRANS and ISO 15919.
Romanized Hindi, also called Hinglish, is the dominant form of Hindi online. In an analysis
of YouTube comments, Palakodety et al., identified that 52% of comments were in Romanized
Hindi, 46% in English, and 1% in Devanagari Hindi.[6]

Phonology
 Consonants Vowels

Examples Examples
Devang
English
IP ari Devana
approxima English
A ISO represe IP IS gari
Hin Ur tion approxi
159 ntation A O represe
di du Hi Ur mation
19 15 ntation
ndi du
91
9
b बीस ‫بیس‬ bīs ब् cabbie

का kā आ or
aː ‫کام‬ father
bhāl म m ा
bʱ भालू ‫بھالو‬ भ् clubhouse
ū

‫جی‬ Scottish
d[11 दाल width, Span eː जेब jeb ए or े
‫دال‬ dāl द् ‫ب‬ say
7]
ish andar

ɛ[1 रह ‫ رہن‬rêh
dʱ[ धूप
‫دھو‬ dhū
ध्
adhere (but ऐ or ै pen
ना ‫ ا‬nā
24]
117]
‫پ‬ p dental)

dʒ जान ‫جان‬ jān ज् budging कै ‫ کیس‬kai

ɛː ऐ or ै fairy
सा ‫ا‬ sā

dʒ झड़ ‫ جھڑ‬jhaṛ
झ् hedgehog
ʱ ना ‫نا‬ nā ə कल ‫َک ل‬ kal अ about

ɖ[11 डाल ḍāln American b जि

‫ڈالنا‬ ड् ‫ ِج تن‬jitn
ना ā ird ɪ त इ or ि
7]
sit
‫ا‬ ā
ना

ɖʱ[ ढक् ‫ ڈھّک‬ḍha American

ढ्
कन ‫ ن‬kkan birdhouse जी
117]

‫ جیت‬jītn
iː त ई or ी seat
‫نا‬ ā
ना
ख़ि
‫خال‬ k͟ hil
f ला ख़् fuss
‫ف‬ āf
फ़ oː बो ‫بول‬ bol ओ or Scottish
‫و‬ o so
लो
ɡ गोल ‫گول‬ gol ग् ago ो

ɡʱ घर ‫گھر‬
gha
घ् loghouse कौ ‫َک و‬ ka औ or America
r ɔː
न ‫ن‬ un ौ n saw

The pause
एत ‫ اعتبا‬iʻtib
in "uh-oh!", ʊ उन ‫ُان‬ un उ or ु book
ʔ [11
butter
बार ‫ر‬ ār[f]
8]
(glottal
stop)
uː ऊन ‫ ُاون‬ūn ऊ or ू moon

Similar to
ɣ[12 बाग़ ‫باغ‬ bāġ ग़् the French ‫ہ٘ن‬ ha
हँस
0]
R nasal
‫س‬ m̐ s
vowel
◌̃ ँ faun
([ãː, õː],
हम ‫ہم‬ ham ह् ma etc.)
मैं ‫ َم یں‬iṁ

ɦ ahead
हुक् h̤ uk
‫حکم‬ ह् Suprasegmentals
म m

IPA Example Notes

j याद ‫یاد‬ yād य् yuck

stress
ˈ◌ [ˈbaːɦər] (placed before
कम ‫کمز‬ kam
k क् scab stressed syllable)
ज़ोर ‫ور‬ zor

doubled
consonant
खा [ˈʊtːəɾ pɾə
kʰ ‫ کھال‬khāl ख् cab ◌ː ˈdeːʃ]
(placed after
ल doubled
consonant)

l लब ‫لب‬ lab ल् leaf

मग mag
m ‫مگر‬ म् much
र ar

n नहीं ‫ نہیں‬nahī̃ न् panther

ɳ[12 किर ‫کرن‬ kira
ण्
American
ण ṇ burn
1]

‫ر٘ن‬ raṅ
ŋ रंग ङ् or bang
‫گ‬ g

p पल ‫پل‬ pal प् spot

pʰ फल ‫پھل‬ phal फ् pot

q[12 क़री ‫قری‬ qarī

‌क़्
somewhat
ब ‫ب‬ b like caught
0]

रस ‫رس‬ ras र्

r[12 Trilled ring

2]

zarr
ज़र्रा ‫ذّرہ‬ र्
a

ɾ[12 ज़रा American

‫ذرا‬ zarā र्
2]
atom

लड़ laṛn American

ɽ ‫لڑنا‬ ड़
ना ā garter

पढ़ा ‫پڑھا‬ paṛ no English

ɽʱ ढ़
ई ‫ئی‬ hāī equivalent

s सब ‫سب‬ sab स् sun

सा ‫صا‬ s̤ āf
 फ़ ‫ف‬

सा s̱ ābi
‫ثابت‬
बित t

ʂ[12 नष्ट ‫ نشٹ‬naṣṭ ष् shrew

1]

का
ʃ ‫کاش‬ kāś श् shoe
श

ता ‫تاال‬ tālā
लाब ‫ب‬ b
similar to
t[117 outthink,
त्
]
Spanish to
mar
लती ‫لطیف‬ lat̤ īf
फ़ा ‫ہ‬ a

tʰ[1 थैला ‫ تھیلا‬thail थ्

tub (but
17]
ā dental)

tʃ चोर ‫چور‬ cor च् catch

छोड़ ‫ چھو‬choṛ
tʃʰ छ् achoo
ना ‫ڑنا‬ nā

ʈ[117 टमा ‫ٹماٹ‬ ṭam

‌ट्
stub (but
टर ‫ر‬ āṭar retroflex)
]

ʈʰ[1 ṭhan tub (but

ठं ड ‫ٹھنڈ‬ ठ्
17]
ḍ retroflex)

ʋ[12 वर्ज़ि ‫ ورز‬varz व् vat

‫ش‬ iś
 3]
श

w[ पक ‫پكوا‬ pakv
व् well
वान ‫ن‬ ān
123]

x[12 ख़रा ‫خرا‬ k͟ ha

ख़्
Scottish loc
ब ‫ب‬ rāb h
0]

z[1 काग़ ‫کاغذ‬ kāġ

ज़् zoo
ज़ az
20]

ʒ[12 अझ़ ‫ اژدہا‬ažda झ़् pleasure

दहा hā
0]

Vocabulary
Further information: Hindustani etymology and List of Sanskrit and Persian roots in Hindi
Traditionally, Hindi words are divided into five principal categories according to their etymology:

 Tatsam (तत्सम transl. "same as that") words: These are words which are spelled the
same in Hindi as in Sanskrit (except for the absence of final case inflections). [125] They
include words inherited from Sanskrit via Prakrit which have survived without
modification (e.g. Hindi नाम nām / Sanskrit नाम nāma, "name",[126] as well as forms
borrowed directly from Sanskrit in more modern times (e.g. प्रार्थना prārthanā,
"prayer").[127] Pronunciation, however, conforms to Hindi norms and may differ from
that of classical Sanskrit. Amongst nouns, the tatsam word could be the Sanskrit
non-inflected word-stem, or it could be the nominative singular form in the Sanskrit
nominal declension.
 Ardhatatsam (अर्धतत्सम transl. "semi-tatsama") words: Such words are typically
earlier loanwords from Sanskrit which have undergone sound changes subsequent
to being borrowed. (e.g. Hindi सूरज sūraj from Sanskrit सूर्य sūrya)
 Tadbhav (तद्भव transl. "born of that") words: These are native Hindi words derived
from Sanskrit after undergoing phonological rules (e.g. Sanskrit कर्म karma, "deed"
becomes Shauraseni Prakrit कम्म kamma, and eventually Hindi काम kām, "work")
and are spelled differently from Sanskrit.[125]
 Deshaj (देशज transl. "of the country") words: These are words that were not
borrowings but do not derive from attested Indo-Aryan words either. Belonging to this
category are onomatopoetic words or ones borrowed from local non-Indo-Aryan
languages.
  Videshī (विदेशी transl. "foreign") words: These include all loanwords from non-
indigenous languages. The most frequent source languages in this category
are Persian, Arabic, English and Portuguese. Examples are क़िला qila "fort" from
Persian, कमेटी kameṭī from English committee.
Hindi also makes extensive use of loan translation (calqueing) and occasionally phono-semantic
matching of English.[128]
Prakrit
Hindi has naturally inherited a large portion of its vocabulary from Shauraseni Prakrit, in the form
of tadbhava words. This process usually involves compensatory lengthening of vowels preceding
consonant clusters in Prakrit, e.g. Sanskrit tīkṣṇa > Prakrit tikkha > Hindi tīkhā.
Sanskrit
Much of Standard Hindi's vocabulary is borrowed from Sanskrit as tatsam borrowings, especially
in technical and academic fields. The formal Hindi standard, from which much of the Persian,
Arabic and English vocabulary has been replaced by neologisms compounding tatsam words, is
called Śuddh Hindi (pure Hindi), and is viewed as a more prestigious dialect over other more
colloquial forms of Hindi.
Excessive use of tatsam words sometimes creates problems for native speakers. They may have
Sanskrit consonant clusters which do not exist in Hindustani, causing difficulties in pronunciation.
[129]

As a part of the process of Sanskritization, new words are coined using Sanskrit components to
be used as replacements for supposedly foreign vocabulary. Usually these neologisms
are calques of English words already adopted into spoken Hindi. Some terms such
as dūrbhāṣ "telephone", literally "far-speech" and dūrdarśan "television", literally "far-sight" have
even gained some currency in formal Hindi in the place of the English
borrowings (ṭeli)fon and ṭīvī.[130]
Persian
Hindi also features significant Persian influence, standardised from spoken Hindustani.[111][46]
[page needed]
Early borrowings, beginning in the mid-12th century, were specific
to Islam (e.g. Muhammad, Islām) and so Persian was simply an intermediary for Arabic. Later,
under the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire, Persian became the primary administrative
language in the Hindi heartland. Persian borrowings reached a heyday in the 17th century,
pervading all aspects of life. Even grammatical constructs, namely the izafat, were assimilated
into Hindi.[131]
The status of Persian language then and thus its influence, is also visible in Hindi proverbs:

हाथ कं गन को आरसी Hāth kaṅgan ko ārsī What is mirror to a hand with

kyā, bangles,
क्या, Paṛhe likhe ko Fārsī What is Persian to a literate.
पढ़े लिखे को फ़ारसी क्या। kyā.

The emergence of Modern Standard Hindi in the 19th century went along with the Sanskritisation
of its vocabulary,[132] leading to a marginalisation of Persian vocabulary in Hindi, which continued
after Partition when the Indian government co-opted the policy of Sanskritisation. However, many
Persian words (e.g. bas "enough", khud "self") have remained entrenched in Standard Hindi, and
a larger amount are still used in Urdu poetry written in the Devanagari script. Many words
borrowed from Persian in turn were loanwords from Arabic
(e.g. muśkil "difficult", havā "air", x(a)yāl "thought", kitāb "book").

Loanwords from Persian derived from Arabic[133][better source needed]

 Perso-Arabic word Hindi word Gloss

‫ وقت‬waqt वक़्त vaqt time

‫ قميص‬qamīṣ क़मीज़ qamīz shirt

‫ كتاب‬kitāb किताब kitāb book

‫ نصيب‬naṣīb नसीब nasīb destiny

‫ كرسي‬kursiyy कु र्सी kursī chair

‫ حساب‬ḥisāb हिसाब hisāb calculation

‫ قانون‬qānūn क़ानून qānūn law

‫ خبر‬ḵabar ख़बर xabar news

‫ دنيا‬dunyā दुनिया duniyā world