कौन

See also: कुन, किन, कान, कोना, and कुनै

Hindi

Etymology

Inherited from Sauraseni Apabhramsa कवन (kavana), from Sanskrit कः पुनर् (kaḥ punar, “who”). Compare Gujarati કોણ (koṇ), Marathi कोण (koṇ), Bengali কোন (kōn).

Pronunciation

• (Delhi Hindi) IPA^(key): /kɔːn/, [kɔ̃ːn̪]

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Pronoun

कौन • (kaun) (Urdu spelling کون‎)

1. (interrogative) who?

   कौन बोल रहे हैं? ― kaun bol rahe ha͠i? ― Who is speaking?

Declension

Pronoun declension of कौन

	singular	plural
direct	कौन kaun	कौन kaun
indirect	किस kis	किन kin
ergative	किसने kisne	किनहोंने kinhõne
genitive	किसका kiskā	किनका kinkā
dative	किसे, किसको kise, kisko	किन्हें, किनको kinhẽ, kinko
instrumental/ablative	किससे kisse	किनसे kinse
inessive	किसमें kismẽ	किनमें kinmẽ
adessive	किसपे, किसपर kispe, kispar	किनपे, किनपर kinpe, kinpar
terminative	किसतक kistak	किनतक kintak
semblative	किससा kissā	किनसा kinsā

Related terms

• क्या (kyā)

References

• McGregor, Ronald Stuart (1993), “कौन”, in The Oxford Hindi-English Dictionary, London: Oxford University Press
• Platts, John T. (1884), “कौन”, in A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English, London: W. H. Allen & Co.
• Turner, Ralph Lilley (1969–1985), “kaḥ punar”, in A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages, London: Oxford University Press, page 127
• “कौन”, in Collins Gem Hindi-English Dictionary, Collins, 2011, →ISBN