# Hindi: hard, soft



## Jianfeng

For eg: This apple is hard. That orange is soft.
Thanks.


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## Cilquiestsuens

hard = sakht

soft = naram


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## BP.

_sakht _and _narm_, as cilqui said, though these aren't pur Hindi words if that was what you were looking for.


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## Birdcall

Other words I know for soft are komal (pure Hindi) and mulaayam (from Arabic I think). narm is from Farsi. 

Other words for hard are kaThor and kaRaa, both native Hindi words.


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## Faylasoof

BelligerentPacifist said:


> _sakht _and _narm_, as cilqui said, though these aren't pur Hindi words if that was what you were looking for.


 True, _sakht / saxt _and _narm_ are not shuddh Hindi but they are of course commonly used. There is even a recent and well-known Bollywood song that uses both.



Birdcall said:


> Other words I know for soft are komal (pure Hindi) and mulaayam (from Arabic I think).narm is from Farsi.
> 
> Other words for hard are kaThor and kaRaa, both native Hindi words.


 Yes, _mulaa2iam_ مُلائم is from Arabic and_ narm_ نَرْم  is Persian.

Urdu also uses both _kaRaa_ and _komal_!!


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## akak

FYI, since OP used apples and oranges in the question, I don't think _komal_, _kaThor_ or _mulaayam_ would be used to describe fruit.

_Sakht_ and _narm_ are used for fruit.

Another word for 'hard' that could be used for fruit is 'Thos' ठोस (it also means firm, solid).


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## panjabigator

akak said:


> FYI, since OP used apples and oranges in the question, I don't think _komal_, _kaThor_ or _mulaayam_ would not be used to describe fruit.
> 
> _Sakht_ and _narm_ are used for fruit.
> 
> Another word for 'hard' that could be used for fruit is 'Thos' ठोस (it also means firm, solid).



I agree with Akak; these two sound the best for fruit, in my opinion.  ठोस: I understand this as "solid," but for some reason this conjures up a rather fowl image.  Do people ever say "ٹھوس مارنا" for, um, اجابت كرنا? 

And also, in reference to the song: कभी नीम नीम, कभी शहिद शहिद, कभी नर्म नर्म, कभी सख्त सख्त।


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## akak

panjabigator said:


> I agree with Akak; these two sound the best for fruit, in my opinion. ठोस: I understand this as "solid," but for some reason this conjures up a rather fowl image. Do people ever say "ٹھوس مارنا" for, um, اجابت كرنا?


 
Yes, Thos would convey an unpleasant hardness... like not being able to bite into! I haven't heard _Thos marna _used in any context!

For fruit, a pleasant crunchiness would be _kurkura_ -- also the name of a Frito-Lay snack sold in India these days.


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## Faylasoof

akak said:


> FYI, since OP used apples and oranges in the question, I don't think _komal_,  _kaThor_ or _mulaayam_ would be used to describe fruit.
> 
> _Sakht_ and _narm_ are used for fruit.


 I know these words (kaRaa and komal) are not used for fruit and I didn't suggest this either! What I said was:



Faylasoof said:


> Urdu also uses both _kaRaa_ and _komal_!!


 This is a general statement that these two words are used in Urdu. The thread title is about how to say _hard_ and _soft_. The OP did indeed menton fruit by _way of  example_ but we needn't restrict ourselves just to this.


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## akak

Faylasoof said:


> I know these words (kaRaa and komal) are not used for fruit and I didn't suggest this either! What I said was:
> 
> This is a general statement that these two words are used in Urdu. The thread title is about how to say _hard_ and _soft_. The OP did indeed menton fruit by _way of example_ but we needn't restrict ourselves just to this.


 
Faylasoof, I wasn't implying that you did! The FYI was for OP, to clarify that these words aren't interchangeable.


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## Faylasoof

akak said:


> Faylasoof, I wasn't implying that you did! The FYI was for OP, to clarify that these words aren't interchangeable.



Yes of course! But I thought I'd better clarify too! Also for the benefit of the OP and others. Many assume these words are alien to Urdu and as you know they are not.


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## amiramir

Hello,

I'd be grateful if you could give me some guidance on the semantic range of the two words I know for soft: mulaayam and naram.

Are they interchangeable in the following contexts:
- soft khaal (skin)
- soft svabhaav (nature)
- soft awaaz (voice)
- soft fabric
- soft phal (fruit)

Many thanks for your help.


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## marrish

amiramir said:


> Hello,
> 
> I'd be grateful if you could give me some guidance on the semantic range of the two words I know for soft: mulaayam and naram.
> 
> Are they interchangeable in the following contexts:
> - soft khaal (skin)
> - soft svabhaav (nature)
> - soft awaaz (voice)
> - soft fabric
> - soft phal (fruit)
> 
> Many thanks for your help.


Hi,

I'll try to go by your examples and restrict myself to Hindi, although this might be much of an effort to restrain myself from uttering _*narm-o-mulaa'im*_, but it is obvious influence of my language.

Alright, so there we go (with the Hindi cap on):

- soft khaal (skin) *मुलायम त्वचा* *mulaayam tvachaa; also नर्म (नरम) त्वचा narm tvachaa (khaal mustn't be actually used here), chamRii.*
- soft svabhaav (nature) *नर्म स्वभाव narm svabhaav.*
- soft awaaz (voice) *both narm and mulaayam. narm aur mulaayam for emphasis.*
- soft fabric - *both narm and mulaayam apply. Still, there is a difference between a soft fabric and a smooth fabric.*
- soft phal (fruit)* narm phal; it might be mulaayam in touch or when consumed. *


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## amiramir

Thanks, marrishji, for answering my question so clearly.



marrish said:


> Still, there is a difference between a soft fabric and a smooth fabric.



Does this mean that, generally speaking, naram maps to soft and mulaayam maps to smooth? I only realized that after your helpful comment above. (I had erroneously thought they were both synonyms for 'soft.')



marrish said:


> - soft khaal (skin) *मुलायम त्वचा* *mulaayam tvachaa; also नर्म (नरम) त्वचा narm tvachaa (khaal mustn't be actually used here), chamRii.*



Why musn't khaal be used here? Did you mean it as a hindi vs. urdu distinction? Or because of some semantic nuance I haven't grasped?


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## marrish

amiramir said:


> Thanks, marrishji, for answering my question so clearly.
> Does this mean that, generally speaking, naram maps to soft and mulaayam maps to smooth? I only realized that after your helpful comment above. (I had erroneously thought they were both synonyms for 'soft.')


You're welcome. Yes, you are right, _nar(a)m_ maps to soft and _mulaayam_ to smooth. Still, _mulaayam_ can also mean soft. The entry from Platts leaves no doubt:

A ملائِم_mulāʼim_, vulg. _mulāyam_, and _mulām_ (act. part. of لاءَم; see _mulāyamat_), adj. Soft; smooth;—tender, delicate;—mild, gentle; affable; easy; benign; peaceable; placid; tame, submissive;—moderate

As you can see, _mulaayam_ has also other uses and meanings, but both soft and smooth are the principial definitions. The rest of the meanings are not all applicable to Hindi and also beyond the discussion here.


> Why musn't khaal be used here? Did you mean it as a hindi vs. urdu distinction? Or because of some semantic nuance I haven't grasped?


I don't think there are any reasons to view it as a distinction between Hindi and Urdu. _khaal_ generally wouldn't be used for human skin, and certainly not in an expression like "_naram khaal_", "_mulaayam khaal_" which no doubt mean a hide, an animal skin.

_khaal_ won't be used and as you can imagine, if it were, it would be very crude. The words I mentioned are OK.


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## Alfaaz

marrish said:
			
		

> I don't think there are any reasons to view it as a distinction between Hindi and Urdu. _khaal_ generally wouldn't be used for human skin...


Relevant quote from amiramir's thread: Hindi: skin


			
				littlepond said:
			
		

> In Hindi, खाल is the word we use mostly for human skin; for animals' skin, we usually use चमड़ी.* Leather is चमड़ा.


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## marrish

Thank you Alfaaz SaaHib! Somehow I haven't had a look at that thread, otherwise I had written _*khaal*_! _ab is muhaavre ke donoN arth dekhiye_: der aae durust aae!

Anyway, I had my Hindi hat on, so I stand by what I have said so far.

And _khaal_ might be perceived to be the most used word for human skin, but sorry, in these expressions it cannot be used.


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## Khaanabadosh

'moti chamRi' however is used to refer to someone with a thick skin.


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## littlepond

amiramir said:


> Does this mean that, generally speaking, naram maps to soft and mulaayam maps to smooth? I only realized that after your helpful comment above. (I had erroneously thought they were both synonyms for 'soft.')



(Came here from the "khaal" thread.)

Well, I don't agree at all with that distinction. "narm" maps to "tender", whereas "mulaayam" maps to "soft". I don't see how "smooth" is concerned at all in the discussion.


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## marrish

^ 'Smooth' is very much one of the main meaning of _mulaayam_, a word the OP asked about. Of course 'soft' too, but _mulaayam_ is more towards smooth than _narm_ is.


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## CyrusSH

Cilquiestsuens said:


> hard = sakht
> 
> soft = naram



Those are Persian words, the interesting thing is that opposite to English _soft_ and German _sacht_, Persian _soft_ and _sakht_ mean "hard".


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## Wolverine9

CyrusSH said:


> Those are Persian words, the interesting thing is that opposite to English _soft_ and German _sacht_, Persian _soft_ and _sakht_ mean "hard".



Persian _sakht _is not a cognate of English _soft_, German _sacht. _Are you claiming there is a Persian _soft _too_?_


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## CyrusSH

Wolverine9 said:


> Persian _sakht _is not a cognate of English _soft_, German _sacht. _Are you claiming there is a Persian _soft _too_?_



I didn't say those are cognates because they have opposite meanings, the antonym of Persian نرم (narm) is usually سفت (soft), of course سخت (sakht) means the same as سفت but its antonym is usually considered to be ساده (sadeh) which means "easy".

سفت, according to Dehkhoda dictionary: معنی سفت | لغت نامه دهخدا is synonym of محکم.


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