# Hindi: Bite, Sting



## Aryaved

Hi dear forumers, I would like some clarification on the noun 'bite' and verb 'to bite' versus  the noun 'sting' and the verb 'to sing' as they are used in Hindi. (Disclaimer: I have checked other threads, but the very nature of my question regarding this word is different and was not touched on in other threads, so Mods please excuse this thread. Thank You.)

My curiosity arouses from the following lyrics of the song 'Chale Chalo' from Lagaan:

चला ही चल, हाँफ नहीं, काँप नहीं
राह में अब तो राही
थकन का साँप नहीं अब तुझे *डसने* पाए (I presume the original word is *डँसना*)

Is *डँसना *the common word for bitten/bite or does it mean in this context sting?

What about the word *दंश *and the corresponding  *डंक*? Are they commonly used alternatives?

If something stings, we say *जलन होना *(jalan hona), but how do we differentiate between sting and bite in Hindi? I am familiar with the colloquial *काट *as in "Saanp kaatta hai/सांप काटता है" (the snake bites) which is where my confusion arises in the first place from the underlined lyrics. Furthermore in Hindi, we can also say  "Saanp dunk maarta hai/सांप डंक मारता है" (Snakes gives/hits a sting/bite???) which further more adds to my confusion because I thought डंक means sting.

Can someone help clear up my confusion on this mess?! Or am I just forgetting that *डँसना *might mean BOTH 'to bite' AND to 'to sting'? Thank you in advance!


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## desi4life

डँसना is a variant of डसना and it means bite and sting. दंश and डंक have similar meanings. I'll let others clarify if there is a difference in usage.


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## Maharaj

Dansna you can say is more specific word than Kaatna. When some venomous creature stings you we say "usne mujhe dans liya". 
Further, in formal Hindi the word 'Dansna' is used.

Dank means a sharp pointed tongue(or whatever you call I don't know the word) so it'll be used when some creature has a 'dank'
So Saanp kabhi dank nahi maarta, saanp dansta hai.
Madhumakkhi dank marti hai.

Further if you could explain the English difference between Bite and Sting I would be able to add further.


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## desi4life

Maharaj said:


> So Saanp kabhi dank nahi maarta, saanp dansta hai.



With साँप, both डस and डंक are used. Hardev Bahri has the following definitions.

डसना ḍas·nā _vt_ to sting, to bite: *साँप ने उसे डस लिया है a snake has bitten him/her.* [cf. डंक मारना, syn. काटना]

साँप sã̄p _mc_ snake, serpent [ख़तरनाक dangerous, ज़हरीला/विषैला poisonous, बड़ा भारी very big]; ~ का काटा -- -bite; *~ का डंक sting of a --*


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## Maharaj

@desi4life "Saanp ne mujhe dank maar diya" nobody says like that in Hindi, please avoid it.


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## Aryaved

Thank you dear @Maharaj and @desi4life!!


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## Qureshpor

My understanding is that:

saaNp Dastaa/kaaTtaa hai = A snake bites

kuttaa kaaTtaa hai = A dog bites

bhiR DaNk maartii hai = A wasp stings

Now, a sting is "DaNk". What is a bite?

There may of course be overlaps.


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## Sheikh_14

If DaNk is sting, shouldn't Das by extension be bite? With the execution of the act being Dasnaa. For instance, perhaps Das paRnaa for to have been bitten.


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## Qureshpor

Sheikh_14 said:


> If DaNk is sting, shouldn't Das by extension be bite? With the execution of the act being Dasnaa. For instance, perhaps Das paRnaa for to have been bitten.


Logically, yes but I am not aware if "Das" is used as a noun. 
I am looking for a word for "bite" as a noun.

He took "a bite" of the kabaab and then swallowed the rest in one go as it was so tasty!


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## Aryaved

Qureshpor said:


> Logically, yes but I am not aware if "Das" is used as a noun.
> I am looking for a word for "bite" as a noun.
> 
> He took "a bite" of the kabaab and then swallowed the rest in one go as it was so tasty!



उसने कबाब का एक निवाला खाया और फिर बाकी यकायक निगल लिया क्योंकि यह बहुत स्वादिष्ट था।

Usne kabaab ka ek nivaalaa khaayaa aur phir baaki yakaayak nigal liya kyonki yah bahut svaadisht tha. 

I think 'nivaalaa' is the word for morsel or bite of food. Others can confirm if this is correct.


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## amiramir

Aryaved said:


> I think 'nivaalaa' is the word for morsel or bite of food. Others can confirm if this is correct.



I saw *कौर *once in a translated book (from English to Hindi). Not sure how idiomatic it is though.


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## Qureshpor

Aryaved said:


> उसने कबाब का एक निवाला खाया और फिर बाकी यकायक निगल लिया क्योंकि यह बहुत स्वादिष्ट था।
> 
> Usne kabaab ka ek nivaalaa khaayaa aur phir baaki yakaayak nigal liya kyonki yah bahut svaadisht tha.
> 
> I think 'nivaalaa' is the word for morsel or bite of food. Others can confirm if this is correct.


آApologies for the misunderstanding. What I was asking was for the noun "bite" (the act of biting) from the verb "to bite". Let me try another sample sentence.

The dog's first bite was perhaps just a deep scratch but the second one went right through his skin.


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## Aryaved

amiramir said:


> I saw *कौर *once in a translated book (from English to Hindi). Not sure how idiomatic it is though.



Yes Amir ji one can use that word for 'bite' with respect to food as in खाने को छोटे-छोटे *कौर* में खाएं (khaane ko chhote chhote kour mein khaayein); दो चार *कौर* खा लें (do chaar kour khaa le); एक *कौर* नहीं खाया गया (not one was eaten). It is used widely with the verb खाया.



Qureshpor said:


> آApologies for the misunderstanding. What I was asking was for the noun "bite" (the act of biting) from the verb "to bite". Let me try another sample sentence.
> 
> The dog's first bite was perhaps just a deep scratch but the second one went right through his skin.



I'm going to go out on a limb and say that a bite can be interpreted in Hindi as *काटने *(kaatne), so your sentence would be:

कुत्ते की पहली *काटने *कदाचित एक गहरी खरोंच थी, परंतु दूसरा *काटने *त्वचा को छेदा (kutte ki pehli kaatne kadachit ek gehri kharonch thi, parantu doosra kaatne tvaccha ko chheda).

Hoping for some corroboration from others regarding this matter.

Also, does anyone know hot differentiate *a cut vs a bite* in Hindi, specifically? Both seem to use variations of the verb काटना. For example, how would one say the "the *bite cut* through his skin"?

This is getting really confusing now...

@littlepond @aevynn @Maharaj @Dib Would like your opinions on this matter and to check my sentences.


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## aevynn

Regarding bites/morsels of food, I think _kaur_ and _nivaalaa_ are both fine. Personally, the former I've heard used in speech and seen in writing, but the latter I've only seen in writing.

(For what it's worth, the word I'm most used to hearing for a bite of food, quite a bit more than either of the above, is _garaaii_ (गराई). I tried to look it up, and while there are hits on Google for this word in Hindi sentences, I couldn't find it in any Hindi-Urdu dictionaries. So I wondered if this was another example of the Punjabi-colored Hindi my family speaks, and indeed, it may very well be.)

For the act of _kaaTnaa_, maybe it makes sense to just use _kaaT_ (as a feminine noun). It shows up in dictionaries, and there are example usages online for this being used for the act of _kaaTnaa_ in several senses of the word:

जवाँमर्द ने यह सुनकर आँखें खोलीं और वीरों की तरह बोला — क्या तू नहीं जानता मैं कौन हूँ, क्या तूने आज इस तलवार की *काट* नहीं देखी? (प्रेमचंद)
jawaaNmard ne yeh sunkar aaNkheN kholii aur viiroN kii tarah bolaa — kyaa tuu nahiiN jaantaa maiN kaun huuN, kyaa tuune aaj is talwaar kii *kaaT* nahiiN dekhii? (premchand)

बुढ़ापे का जो ज़हर पड़ोसन वृद्घा पी रही हैं, उसी की *काट* मैंने खोजी थी, उन्हें चाची कहना शुरू करके। (स्वाति तिवारी)
buRhape kaa jo zahar paRosan vriddhaa pii rahii haiN, usii kii *kaaT* maiNne khojii thii, unheN chaachii kahnaa shuruu karke. (swaati tiwaarii)

क्या फ़र्क है तुम भूख से मरो या कुत्ते की *काट* से। (मनोज कुमार झा)
kyaa fark hai tum bhuukh se maro ya kutte kii *kaaT* se. (manoj kumaar jhaa)​Note that in the first example, _kaaT_ is being used to mean the act of _kaaTnaa_ in the sense of cutting; in the second, in the sense of acting as an antidote to a poison; and in the third, in the sense of biting.

Finally, as far as biting vs cutting go, ... I can't really think of any examples where there's really any genuine ambiguity with just using _kaaTnaa_, but probably the most colloquial thing to do if you really must explicitly disambiguate is to do something like _daaNt se kaaTnaa_ vs _chaakuu/kaiNchii/vagairah se kaaTnaa_.

I should also point out that one should be careful before trying to invoke highbrow Sanskritic words to do this. For example, my understanding is that the word _danshan_ (the etymological source of the _tadbhava_ verb_ DaNsnaa_ discussed earlier) may have literally meant biting in Sanskrit, and this is the meaning that the _shabd-saagar_ records for the _tatsama_ loan in modern Hindustani. But, at least as far as I've observed, the word _danshan_ today is usually poetic and figurative, referring to a biting sensation caused by emotions and the like. For example, in the following poem by Harivansh Ray Bachchan, it's memories that do the _danshan_ (which don't literally have teeth, so the meaning given in the _shabd-saagar_ doesn't make sense verbatim).

सोचा करता बैठ अकेले,
गत जीवन के सुख-दुख झेले,
*दंशनकारी* सुधियों से मैं उर के छाले सहलाता हूँ!
ऐसे मैं मन बहलाता हूँ!

sochaa kartaa baiTh akele,
gat jiivan ke sukh-dukh jhele,
*danshankaarii* sudhiyoN se maiN ur ke chaale sehlaataa huuN!
aise maiN man behlaataa huuN!

I sit alone and I think
About the ups and downs I've endured in my life so far,
I relieve the blisters of my heart with these biting memories!
This is how I make myself feel better!​My guess is that it would not really fit with modern usage of _danshan_ very well if one were to use it to literally mean biting, but I don't know for sure. Perhaps people do use _danshan_ literally too.


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## littlepond

One cannot use "kaur" for a "bite": it means a morsel rather.

As for your type of sentences, Aryaved jii, one can use "kaaTnaa", not "kaaTne". In your sentence, "kutte kaa paihla kaaTnaa ..."

And as for "kaaT", yes, it's very much a noun, and used a lot, but it does not mean "bite". It means rather edge, antidote, etc. "zaihar kii kaaT zaihar hii hotaa hai", and so on.


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## Jashn

littlepond said:


> One cannot use "kaur" for a "bite": it means a morsel rather.



I think the confusion here is in the English: 'bite' and 'morsel' can be synonyms in English (e.g., "There was only a bite of food left", is the same as, "There was only a morsel of food left"), and I think that's how Aevynn meant it here:



aevynn said:


> Regarding bites/morsels of food, I think _kaur_ and _nivaalaa_ are both fine.



Sorry I don't have much more to offer to the thread overall, it's been very interesting to read you all.


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