# Hindi/Urdu/Deccani Urdu: curry leaf



## lcfatima

What do you call curry leaf or _kaRi patta_ in your family or your locale?

When I asked a couple of Deccani Urdu speaning friends about curry leaf, I was reminded that they call curry leaf kaRiyaapaak. Another friend who is originally from Hyderabad says that her mother calls it kaRiyaa patta. 

Just wondering if there is further variety. I think there is some regional variety in whether it is with _r,_ _R or Rh_, also. I get hits for all options when I try the various spellings in devnaagri.


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## Wolverine9

The dictionaries I've seen list _kaRhii _as the correct form (Turner, Platts), but Google reveals _karii _to be most common which I think could be an influence from English spelling.


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## lcfatima

I think the dish of chickpea flour mixed with buttermilk or yoghurt (though Sindhi besan kaRhi has no dairy) is actually different from kaRi leaf. It is always kaRhi with the name of the dish.

We had this thread a long time ago which also mentioned kaRhi as distinct from kaRi patta.


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## littlepond

with R for me


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## marrish

lcfatima said:


> What do you call curry leaf or _kaRi patta_ in your family or your locale?
> 
> When I asked a couple of Deccani Urdu speaning friends about curry leaf, I was reminded that they call curry leaf kaRiyaapaak. Another friend who is originally from Hyderabad says that her mother calls it kaRiyaa patta.
> 
> Just wondering if there is further variety. I think there is some regional variety in whether it is with _r,_ _R or Rh_, also. I get hits for all options when I try the various spellings in devnaagri.


We don't use it so I can't tell you how it is called in my family but I am familiar with it through culinary interactionswith different communities. kaRii pattaa otherwise kaRiyaa paat (not paak but I assume it was a mere typo).


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## lcfatima

KaRiyaapaak is not a typo.


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## marrish

lcfatima said:


> KaRiyaapaak is not a typo.


Good to know. I assumed it was a typo because I know they call it _kaRiyaa-paat_, at least in Urdu so by the change of one letter you've got another word


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## littlepond

^ However, marrish jii, Urdu is not some hegemonic variety: kariyapak _is_ the word! At least in Deccani Urdu.


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## Faylasoof

lcfatima said:


> What do you call curry leaf or _kaRi patta_ in your family or your locale?
> 
> When I asked a couple of Deccani Urdu speaning friends about curry leaf, I was reminded that they call curry leaf kaRiyaapaak. Another friend who is originally from Hyderabad says that her mother calls it kaRiyaa patta.
> 
> Just wondering if there is further variety. I think there is some regional variety in whether it is with _r,_ _R or Rh_, also. I get hits for all options when I try the various spellings in devnaagri.


 For us it is _kaRii pattaa_. 
Not surprising that in Hyderabad it is _kaRiyaa pattaa_. We have an old thread where we briefly discussed that there are differences even within Daccani Urdu - north versus south , and the language in Hyderabad city itself shows more influence from UP, esp. from the late 19th and early 20th century. 
... and _kaRiyaapaak_ doesn't surprise me either.


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## Faylasoof

lcfatima said:


> I think the dish of chickpea flour mixed with buttermilk or yoghurt (though Sindhi besan kaRhi has no dairy) is actually different from kaRi leaf. It is always kaRhi with the name of the dish.
> 
> We had this thread a long time ago which also mentioned kaRhi as distinct from kaRi patta.


 Yes, the dish is different from the leaf!


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## sagheero

Faylasoof said:


> For us it is _kaRii pattaa_.
> Not surprising that in Hyderabad it is _kaRiyaa pattaa_. We have an old thread where we briefly discussed that there are differences even within Daccani Urdu - north versus south , and the language in Hyderabad city itself shows more influence from UP, esp. from the late 19th and early 20th century.
> ... and _kaRiyaapaak_ doesn't surprise me either.



In Bangalore we call it Kariyapaak. My wife who hails from Hyderabad calls it Karii Pattaa.


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## gagun

Actually in tamil it is karivepp ilai means curry leaf(ilai=leaf).in telugu it karivepp aaku (aaku=leaf),but  in daily usage people pronunce it as kariveppaak or kariyaapaak or karepaak in hyd it is also called kariyaapatta or karii patta  but kariyapaak is widely used which is a pure telugu word, I do not know wheather is curry is derived from karivep of tamil or not?


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## tonyspeed

This is interesting. I always thought that curry leaf was the English word for this. I have only heard of _miiTHaa/miiTHii niim_.


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## gagun

Yes in hindi curry leaves = Karipatta, Mitha nim, Mitha neem patta but in marathi it is kadhi limbu .


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## tonyspeed

gagun said:


> Yes in hindi curry leaves = Karipatta, Mitha nim, Mitha neem patta but in marathi it is kadhi limbu .




Interesting. Someone I know calls this meethaa liimb. I thought the 'l' was strange when I heard him say that.


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## Dib

tonyspeed said:


> Interesting. Someone I know calls this meethaa liimb. I thought the 'l' was strange when I heard him say that.



Bengali has an l~n variation to some extent; maybe it exists in other related languages too?


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## littlepond

^ l~n is a common variation found even in Hindi (by which I of course do not mean standard Hindi).


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## mundiya

Yes, it's common.  "niim" vs "liimb" is similar to "nimbuu, niimuu" vs. "liimuu" and so on.


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