# Hindi/Urdu: nail clipper



## panjabigator

A friend just reported to me that her Dada jī said ناخون گیر for nail clipper. I thought this was quite funny but also a good word. Does this word find use in your circles?


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## Qureshpor

panjabigator said:


> A friend just reported to me that her Dada jī said ناخون گیر for nail clipper. I thought this was quite funny but also a good word. Does this word find use in your circles?



naaxun-taraash.

(Not naaxuun!)


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## panjabigator

QURESHPOR said:


> naaxun-taraash.
> 
> (Not naaxuun!)



I had just thought of "nākhun tarāsh" myself. Glad to know it exists. Thanks for the correction, careless mistype on my part.


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## UrduMedium

panjabigator said:


> A friend just reported to me that her Dada jī said ناخون گیر for nail clipper. I thought this was quite funny but also a good word. Does this word find use in your circles?


I also like it and think naaxun-giir is creative!

But as QP saahab mentioned naaxun-taraash is the standard Urdu usage.

Edit: OUD lists naaxun-giir as a synonym for naaxun-taraash. http://www.clepk.org/oud/ViewWord.aspx?RefID=27472


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## panjabigator

Greatbear or anyone else, any ideas of the Hindi?


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## greatbear

No ideas from me, as I call it by its English name. "Naakhun taraash" does seem a bit funny to me, as "taraashnaa" is more the job of that file that comes with the clipper rather than the clipper itself! One could of course say that through clipping also one does "taraash"! Anyway, standard words can appear to be a bit strange at times. Nail is "naakhun" or "nakh" in Hindi, of course, so I guess the Hindi standard word might be the same.


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## Qureshpor

"taraashnaa" in Urdu does not actually mean "to file". It means to cut/slice/prune/carve/shape..


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## greatbear

QURESHPOR said:


> "taraashnaa" in Urdu does not actually mean "to file". It means to cut/slice/prune/carve/shape..



I know that ... the meaning is same in Hindi. By filing one can "carve" a nail: of course one can do it through cutting a nail also, but "tarashnaa" is chiselling, not hacking. Hence the word does come a bit odd to me for a nail clipper.


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## Cilquiestsuens

In the Punjabi I know it is called *nau.N-kaTnii*. No idea about how to say that in Hindi Urdu


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## greatbear

QURESHPOR said:


> naaxun-taraash.
> 
> (Not naaxuun!)



As far as Hindi is concerned, both are fine: see here and here.


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## Qureshpor

Cilquiestsuens said:


> In the Punjabi I know it is called *nau.N-kaTnii*. No idea about how to say that in Hindi Urdu



Thank you Cilquiestsuens SaaHib. Practically all my life I've been saying "nauN kaTTar"!


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## Qureshpor

UrduMedium said:


> I also like it and think naaxun-giir is creative!
> 
> But as QP saahab mentioned naaxun-taraash is the standard Urdu usage.
> 
> Edit: OUD lists naaxun-giir as a synonym for naaxun-taraash. http://www.clepk.org/oud/ViewWord.aspx?RefID=27472



Thank you, UM SaaHib, for the link. I've checked in my time-trusted and honoured dictionary and that too includes "naaxun-giir" (for gb's naaxuun, this dictionary mentions naaxuun to be "rare". Thank you gb)

I had not come across "naaxun-giir". If I were to compare it with "maahii-giir" (fisherman/machhliyaaN pakaRne vaalaa), naaxun-giir would be an (instrument) that is "naaxun-pakaRne vaalaa" or a nail-gripper. Just my view.

Your dictionary also mentions "nahurnaa" which the barbers used to use in the "olden" days. Based on this "*nahurnii*" would be a good word to use for the nail-clipper.


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## marrish

How would you call a thing like a ''nail file'' or ''emery board''?


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## Alfaaz

> How would you call a thing like a ''nail file'' or ''emery board''?


Various online dictionaries suggest the following: ریگ مال ناخن ، سوہان ، ریتی/ ریتنی ، چھینی reg maal-e-naakhun , sohaan, reti/retni , chheeni? Edit: تراشہ is given as a file used for marble, so perhaps taraashah-e-naakhun could also work?
(there is another word used which isn't coming to mind...)


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## Faylasoof

panjabigator said:


> A friend just reported to me that her Dada jī said ناخون گیر for nail clipper. I thought this was quite funny but also a good word. Does this word find use in your circles?


 The word is used by us but not that often!

In fact, all of the following can be used: 

ناخن گير _naaxun-giir _
ناخن تراش _naaxun-taraash,_


But for us, the following is more common:

نہرنی _nahurnii_ (_naharnii_ for some) - I've heard both, with the former pronunciation more than the latter. We actually use the latter! According to this online Urdu lexicon, the etymology seems to be Sanskrit!

وہ آلہ جس سے ناخن کاٹتے ہیں، ناخن تراش ناخن گیر۔۔


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## seaofzaire

In urdu "Nakhon Tarash"


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## marrish

Not mentioned before that the most common is _نیل کٹر nel kaTar_.


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## marrish

Does anyone have any idea how ''a cuticle'' around the nail would be called?


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## UrduMedium

marrish said:


> Does anyone have any idea how ''a cuticle'' around the nail would be called?



I don't know for sure, but recall something like "chaiNTaa" for this from my mother when I was young. Also curious to know if this is correct.


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## marrish

UrduMedium said:


> I don't know for sure, but recall something like "chaiNTaa" for this from my mother when I was young. Also curious to know if this is correct.


UM SaaHib, many thanks for your reaction. For the word as you say it, I managed to find this in Platts:

H چينٿاचींटा_ćīṅṭā, चैंटा  _*ćaiṅṭā*_, चेंटा ćeṅṭā (see ćimṭā and ćimaṭnā), s.m. A large ant (black or red=ćyūṅṭā).

_But perhaps you can make out anything of the following:

چينٿचेंट ćeṅṭ, s.f. (dialec.), A slight cut or bruise, a scratch, a scar.
چينتناचींतना ćīṅtnā (see ćīthnā), v.t. To pull or tear up by the roots, &c.

چيتهنا चीथना ćīthnā [ćīth˚ = S. छिद्र, rt. छिद्], v.t. To rend, tear; to lacerate; to bruise, crush:—(cf. ćithāṛnā):—ćīth-denā, v.t. Idem.
چينتهناचींथना ćīṅthnā, v.n. To be bruised by being trodden upon.

All this makes me think of _*chithRe* uRaanaa kisii ke_.


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## hindiurdu

^These words are completely new to me - thanks! This is pretty amusing overall because, let's be honest, our elders used to cut their nails with scissors. Didn't yours? This has changed only during my grandparents' time. I think basically it's a British introduction. If we are coining words, why not just call it naxoon kaTTar or naxoon kaaT? KaT means the same thing in HU as it does in English after all and the action really is 'cutting', not carving or tearing. Let'e just exploit the IE connection for once. Why do all words have to be different?


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## BP.

hindiurdu said:


> ... If we are coining words, why not just call it naxoon kaTTar or naxoon kaaT? KaT means the same thing in HU as it does in English after all and the action really is 'cutting', not carving or tearing. Let'e just exploit the IE connection for once. Why do all words have to be different?


A cut isn't always kaaT. What's the cut (straight leg or whatever) of a pair of trousers called? patluun kii taraash [xaraash].

I think the words depend on the precision of the cutting. If nails were cut by hacking at them with an axe, the axe might have been candidate for the appelation naaxun kaaT.


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