# Hindi: deer



## albondiga

Hi all,

Shabdkosh has मृग, हरिण, and हिरण for "deer".  Are these referring to more than one animal?  If not, which word is most commonly used in colloquial speech to refer to a deer?

Thanks!


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## lcfatima

I have heard heeran as well as heerni. I thought it was a long "i".

So who is the husband of the heerni, a heer?


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## Faylasoof

Fatimah,  in both Hindi and Urdu we commonly say <hiran ہرن > for male and  <hirnii ہرنی> for female – both have a short middle <i>.   
  .. and I know this is a Hindi thread but since we also have Urduphonic visitors I might as well give you the other names we use in Urdu for this animal:  <aahoo آہو> and < ghazaal غزال > - mostly in poetry and literary prose.


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## BP.

F, I've never been able to wrap my mind around to classification differences (genotypic or phenotypic or both) of deers and gazelles, so proceed to call the former _hiran_ or _aahoo_ and the latter _ghazaal_.


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## Faylasoof

BP, all of my Urdu-Hindi (and Farsi) dictionaries seem to give _hiran_ / _ghazaal_ / _aahoo_ as synonyms! Hence my post.


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## BP.

no hay problemo, sinor, no hay problemo. There were two names in English so I thought (and still do) there must be biological differences.


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## panjabigator

Fay (do you mind that I shortened your name?) and BP, I believe they are all the same genus.  But in English, deer and gazelles are different, so perhaps this is something we should investigate more.


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## Illuminatus

*hiran* is the commonly used term for deer, while *hirni* is hiran's wife 

*harin* is the Marathi word for deer, I guess.

Mrig is the Sanskrit word, which finds itself in terms like *kastoori-mrig* (musk-deer) and *mrig-trishNa* (mirage).


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## lcfatima

Oh, silly me. Since often that -n or -ni morpheme makes something feminine, I had just classified it as female.

Kya hirni ke bacche ke liye koi khaas lafz hota hai?


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## BP.

Just call him _aahoo zaada_! <-Couldn't help it, sorry!


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## bakshink

"Meimna" should be fine or bachhRRa...
Dear Bp
aahoo-zaada to thhoda "zyada" hi ho gaya!!


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## bakshink

There are many types of deer in the Indian Subcontinent. Hog Deer, Axis Deer, Barking Deer but he one known as Hiran or Mrig is I think spotted deer or Cheetal. Some others are Chinkara, Barasingha.
The female is called doe and the young ones fawn
Mrig trishna is also called Mrig marichika 
Another beautiful word in Hindi is Mrig nayani (Doe-eyed) Used for a female having beautiful eyes


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## BP.

From my very limited veterenary knowledge, _maimna_ is reserved for lamb, and _bachhRa_ for the young of a larger grazing mammal like cow or buffalo. Others are just _-ka bachcha_.


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## bakshink

Dear BPji,
English is a very rich language we all will agree. 
What's the word for a male elephant? 
Bull? Am I right? The female is called a cow elephant and the baby, a calf. 
They can have an apple, a pineapple and a custard apple and many more of which I don't know. 
Why should then we must have an exact word for every living and non-living thing? 
In the absence of an exact word quite often we use a word that nearly conveys sense.
Rather than using iska bachcha, uska bachcha, if I say "Jungle mein Papa Hiran, Mummy Hiran apne meimne ke saath ghaas char rahe thhe", I think no child or his parents will object to my choice of the words. 
Does in this context "Hiranee" appear to be a surrogate mother of the poor meimna being spoken about?


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## Illuminatus

It is not a question of what word you choose to use in a particular context. It is a question of what millions of speakers use in that context. 

I could say something like: _Jungle mein Hiran aur Hiran apne suputra ke saath ghoom rahe the._ Of course people will laugh.


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## Faylasoof

There are two / three terms used in Hindi-Urdu for a fawn:

 بره bara / barra, [masc.] = lamb / kid / fawn / Aries. --- Persian-Urdu (I prefer the second - underlined).

 .. and

 ھِرنَوٹاहिरनौटा hirnauTā /  ہَرنوٹاहरनौटा harnauTā[masc.] --- Hindi-Urdu
 



BelligerentPacifist said:


> ... Others are just _-ka bachcha_.




aur janaab dostaan-e-azeez, 
'ullu ke bachche ko hum kyaa kahte hai.n? woh to ek gaalii samjhii jaatii hai. bechaara bequSoor 'ullu!


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