# Hindi/Urdu: snow



## panjabigator

Greetings,

Aside from برف پڑنا, can anyone think of other ways to describe snow fall?  Flurries?  A light dusting of snow?  Blizzard?

Cheers,
PG


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## Cilquiestsuens

panjabigator said:


> Greetings,
> 
> Aside from برف پڑنا, can anyone think of other ways to describe snow fall?  Flurries?  A light dusting of snow?  Blizzard?
> 
> Cheers,
> PG



Well, to start with there is the noun = _*barf-baarii*_ برف باری   (snowfall) often pronounced_* baraf baarii*_....

Then you have the famous _*zhaalah-baarii*_ (hail), which is called ole in normal language. I say famous because it is one of the very few Urdu words having the sound re with three dots as its initial which is pronounced like the *J* of French or Russian (or *Jeem* of Arabic as pronounced in the Levant and most of North Africa)...

Blizzard, I am not sure, maybe we would say something like :

*barfaanii tuufaan* .... برفانی طوفان 

*barf kaa tuufaan*...برف کا طوفان maybe also *barfiilaa tuufaan* برفیلا طوفان 

Maybe all the above would be translated by snow storm rather, I'm not sure...

I've checked the Oxford, for Blizzard, it gives a long phrase:
*
barf ka tuufaan tez hawaa'ii jhakkaRon ke saath*

برف کا طوفان تیز ہوائی جھکڑوں کے ساتھ 

As for words describing snow, I don't know... I am sure that languages like Hindko, Pashto and others may have more vocabulary in this field than Urdu, which is more as you know a language of the plains and the heat....

Urdu doesn't even distinguish between _ice_ and _snow_, I think....


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## panjabigator

I am not a big sukooner, so you can well imagine my pronunciation is closer to <baraf> than <barf>.  I'm sure the ماھرینِ اردو might barf at my pronunciation  nyuk nyuk nyuk...


> Urdu doesn't even distinguish between _ice_ and _snow_, I think....



How about یخ versus برف?


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## Cilquiestsuens

By the way, for snowfall, we also say *barf girna* برف گرنا  

I think *yakh* یخ  is very rarely used as a noun in Urdu.... Although technically you are right, it means ice.... But I think I am not sure. I think it is a specific kind of ice like the verglas we have in French (black ice???) or something like that (not sure, let's wait for or forum's big guns).

Most of the time it is used as an adjective meaning : very cold, like... colder than _*ThanDa*_... ٹھنڈا 

Ice can be described as *munjamid paanii*... منجمد پانی  or* jamaa huaa paanii* جما ھوا پانی  ... or maybe _*yakhbastah paanii*_ یخ بستہ  پانی 

P.S. :

1. Checked my Firoz, it gives the meaning of *aasmaanii barf* آسمانی برف   /  *jamaa huaa paalaa* جما ھوا پالا for *yakh* یخ  as a noun... NOt sure precisely what *paalaa* پالا  is, I would understand it as snow...


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## panjabigator

Intersting!  I must learn more about this word پالا in Urdu.  In Punjabi, we use it like ٹھنڈ.  

I didn't think it existed in Urdu.  I thought it was a _theth_ Punjabi word.

پالا لگدا پئا.  = It's _really_ cold.


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## Hindi

snowfall : हिमपात


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## Faylasoof

Just to add some more. In Urdu we don't have different words for different types of snow! It is either برف barf or يخ - both from Persian and mostly it is the former that you hear, even for ice!

_*Blizzard = *_*برفباد* -- from برف (snow)  + باد (wind) .      

 As forپالا _paalaa__, _here is Platts:

 پالا _paalaa_ = Frost, hoar-frost; snow; dew; coagulation; secundines of an animal; pālā paṛnā, pālā girnā, v.n. To freeze, to snow.

 For frost we do use پالا but not for dew! For dew we use اوس ओस_ os _or شَبنَم_ shabnam_.

 [BTW, پالا has other uses too! پالا پڑنا means both _to be covered with frost _as well as _to come across / encounter a (wicked / unpleasant) person_; a separating line in _kabaddii _!]


 H اوسओस_os_ [S. अवश्याय]. s.f. Dew (syn. _shabnam_):—os paṛnā or paṛ-jānā (-par), lit. 'Dew to fall (upon)'; to be blighted, to lose bloom, lustre or splendour, to be dimmed, to languish, droop, fade; to be less in demand, to fall in value:—os-ke motī, s.m. Dew-drops;—adj. & adv. Dew-drop-like.

 Here, no. 5:
_shab-nam_  ( شَبنَم), s.f. 'Night-moisture,' dew (syn. os) 

 A composite of  شَب (night) + نَم (wet).  

 شَبنَم  is also a name for girls.


 We did _zhaalah / -leh_, _shabnam_ and _os_ here, and يخ_ yax_ we did here.


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## Cilquiestsuens

Thanks Faylas sb. for all the clarifications.

I have read this thread and that one and did not come across as yakh يخ used independently as a noun meaning ice...

As you say yourself.



Faylasoof said:


> In Urdu we don't have different words for different types of snow! It is either برف barf or يخ - both from Persian and mostly it is the former that you hear, even for ice!



No example available, even from literature / poetry ???


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## Koozagar

in Lahore, as Cilqui said above, we use 'yakh' along with 'thanda' to express very cold. so we would say 'thanda yakh paani'.


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## panjabigator

Koozagar said:


> in Lahore, as Cilqui said above, we use 'yakh' along with 'thanda' to express very cold. so we would say 'thanda yakh paani'.



Koozagar Sahib, can you say anything about پالا in Lahori Panjabi?


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## Koozagar

I don't recall hearing it. However, I can't categorically say that it is never used.


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## panjabigator

Thanks for that.  Cilqui, have you heard it in Punjabi?  Does anyone know if this word is used in Hindi?


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## BP.

I thought _paalaa _meant _frost _and destroyed crops.


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## panjabigator

This Platts' entry confirms what BP and Faylasoof have both said.


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## Qureshpor

panjabigator said:


> Thanks for that.  Cilqui, have you heard it in Punjabi?  Does anyone know if this word is used in Hindi?



*We in Punjabi use "paalaa" for "cold" as in:

manuuN paalaa lag riyaa e/ manuuN paalaa lagdaa e payaa.

I am feeling cold. 

Part of my family pronounce it with a retroflex l, which to my ears sounds almost like "paaRaa"!!*


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## panjabigator

Thanks for your confirmation, Qureshpor. That's how we use it too.


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## Sheikh_14

For the sake of specificity how would you differentiate snow and ice if it was required? In Persian that would be quite simple as Barf explicitly means snow and yax ice but how would you do the same for Urdu? Any suggestions irregardless of however far-fetched, are most welcome.


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