गो

See also: -ग, ग, ग़, गा, गु, गू, गे, गों, गौ, and ॻ

Hindi

Pronunciation

• (Standard Hindi) IPA^(key): /ɡoː/

Etymology 1

Learned borrowing from Sanskrit गो (gó). Doublet of गाय (gāy).

Noun

गो • (go) m

1. cow; ox

Declension

Declension of गो (masc o-stem)

	singular	plural
direct	गो go	गो go
oblique	गो go	गों gõ
vocative	गो go	गो go

Synonyms

• गाय (gāy)

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English go, from the Japanese character 碁 (go), shorthand for Japanese 囲碁 (igo), adopted from the Chinese character 圍棋 / 围棋 (wéiqí).

Proper noun

गो • (go) m

1. (board games) Go

Declension

Declension of गो (sg-only masc o-stem)

	singular
direct	गो go
oblique	गो go
vocative	गो go

Pali

Alternative forms

Alternative scripts

• go (Latin script)
• 𑀕𑁄 (Brahmi script)
• গো (Bengali script)
• ගො (Sinhalese script)
• ဂေါ or ၷေႃ (Burmese script)
• โค (Thai script)
• ᨣᩮᩤ (Tai Tham script)
• ໂຄ (Lao script)
• គោ (Khmer script)
• 𑄉𑄮 (Chakma script)

Noun

गो m or f

1. Devanagari script form of go (“cow, ox, bull”)

Declension

Declension table of "गो" (masculine)

Case \ Number	Singular	Plural
Nominative (first)	गो (go)	गवो (gavo) or गावो (gāvo)
Accusative (second)	गवं (gavaṃ) or गावुं (gāvuṃ) or गावं (gāvaṃ)	गवो (gavo) or गावो (gāvo)
Instrumental (third)	गवेन (gavena) or गावेन (gāvena)	गोहि (gohi) or गोभि (gobhi)
Dative (fourth)	गवस्स (gavassa) or गावस्स (gāvassa)	गुन्नं (gunnaṃ) or गवं (gavaṃ) or गोनं (gonaṃ)
Ablative (fifth)	गवस्मा (gavasmā) or गवम्हा (gavamhā) or गवा (gavā) or गावा (gāvā) or गावस्मा (gāvasmā) or गावम्हा (gāvamhā)	गोहि (gohi) or गोभि (gobhi)
Genitive (sixth)	गवस्स (gavassa) or गावस्स (gāvassa)	गुन्नं (gunnaṃ) or गवं (gavaṃ) or गोनं (gonaṃ)
Locative (seventh)	गवस्मिं (gavasmiṃ) or गवम्हि (gavamhi) or गवे (gave) or गावे (gāve) or गावस्मिं (gāvasmiṃ) or गावम्हि (gāvamhi)	गवेसु (gavesu) or गावेसु (gāvesu) or गोसु (gosu)
Vocative (calling)	गो (go)	गवो (gavo) or गावो (gāvo)

Sanskrit

Alternative forms

• गव् (gav)

Alternative scripts

Alternative scripts

• গো (Assamese script)
• ᬕᭀ (Balinese script)
• গো (Bengali script)
• 𑰐𑰺 (Bhaiksuki script)
• 𑀕𑁄 (Brahmi script)
• ဂေါ (Burmese script)
• ગો (Gujarati script)
• ਗੋ (Gurmukhi script)
• 𑌗𑍋 (Grantha script)
• ꦒꦺꦴ (Javanese script)
• 𑂏𑂷 (Kaithi script)
• ಗೋ (Kannada script)
• គោ (Khmer script)
• ໂຄ (Lao script)
• ഗോ (Malayalam script)
• ᡤᠣ (Manchu script)
• 𑘐𑘻 (Modi script)
• ᠺᠣᠸᠠ (Mongolian script)
• 𑦰𑧜 (Nandinagari script)
• 𑐐𑑀 (Newa script)
• ଗୋ (Odia script)
• ꢔꣂ (Saurashtra script)
• 𑆓𑆾 (Sharada script)
• 𑖐𑖺 (Siddham script)
• ගො (Sinhalese script)
• 𑩞𑩕 (Soyombo script)
• 𑚌𑚴 (Takri script)
• கே³ா (Tamil script)
• గో (Telugu script)
• โค (Thai script)
• གོ (Tibetan script)
• 𑒑𑒼 (Tirhuta script)
• 𑨍𑨆 (Zanabazar Square script)

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *gʷṓws

Proto-Indo-Iranian *gā́wš

Sanskrit गो

From Proto-Indo-Iranian *gā́wš, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷṓws (“cattle”). Cognate with Avestan 𐬔𐬀𐬊 (gao), Ancient Greek βοῦς (boûs), Latin bōs, Old English cū (whence English cow).

Pronunciation

• (Vedic) IPA^(key): /ɡɐ́w/
• (Classical Sanskrit) IPA^(key): /ɡoː/

Noun

गो • (gó) stem, f or m

1. a cow
   • c. 1500 BCE – 1000 BCE, Ṛgveda 6.28.1:

     आ गावो॑ अग्मन्न् उ॒त भ॒द्रम् अ॑क्र॒न्त् सीद॑न्तु गो॒ष्ठे र॒णय॑न्त्व् अ॒स्मे।
     प्र॒जाव॑तीः पुरु॒रूपा॑ इ॒ह स्यु॒र् इन्द्रा॑य पू॒र्वीर् उ॒षसो॒ दुहा॑नाः॥

     ā́ gā́vo agmann utá bhadrám akrant sī́dantu goṣṭhé raṇáyantv asmé.
     prajā́vatīḥ pururū́pā ihá syur índrāya pūrvī́r uṣáso dúhānāḥ.

     The cows have come and brought good fortune: let them rest in the cow-pen and be happy near us.
     Here let them stay prolific, many-coloured, and yield their milk for Indra through many mornings.

2. an ox
3. (in the plural) cattle, kine, herd of cattle
4. (usually in the plural) anything coming from or belonging to an ox or cow, milk, flesh, skin, hide, leather, strap of leather, bow-string, sinew
5. (poetic, in the plural) "the herds of the sky", the stars
6. the sign Taurus

Declension

Masculine o-stem declension of गो

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	गौः (gáuḥ)	गावौ॑ (gā́vau) गावा॑¹ (gā́vā¹)	गावः॑ (gā́vaḥ)
accusative	गाम् (gā́m)	गावौ॑ (gā́vau) गावा॑¹ (gā́vā¹)	गाः (gā́ḥ) गावः॑² (gā́vaḥ²)
instrumental	गवा॑ (gávā)	गोभ्या॑म् (góbhyām)	गोभिः॑ (góbhiḥ)
dative	गवे॑ (gáve)	गोभ्या॑म् (góbhyām)	गोभ्यः॑ (góbhyaḥ)
ablative	गोः (góḥ)	गोभ्या॑म् (góbhyām)	गोभ्यः॑ (góbhyaḥ)
genitive	गोः (góḥ)	गवोः॑ (gávoḥ)	गवा॑म् (gávām) गोना॑म्¹ (gónām¹)
locative	गवि॑ (gávi)	गवोः॑ (gávoḥ)	गोषु॑ (góṣu)
vocative	गौः (gáuḥ)	गावौ॑ (gā́vau) गावा॑¹ (gā́vā¹)	गावः॑ (gā́vaḥ)

• ¹Vedic
• ²rare

Derived terms

• गव्य॑ (gávya)
• गावी (gāvī)
• गोकुल (gokula)
• गोक्षीर (gokṣīra)
• गो॒घ्न (goghná)
• गोचर (gocara)
• गोतम (gotama)
• गोत्र (gotra)
• गोदान (godāna)
• गोदावरी (godāvarī)
• गोपाल (gopāla)
• गोमिन् (gomin)
• गोरूप (gorūpa)
• गोलोक (goloka)
• गोवर्धन (govardhana)
• गोविन्द (govinda)
• गोस्वामिन् (gosvāmin)

Descendants

• Dardic:
  • Kamkata-viri: gō
  • Kashmiri: گاو (gāv)
  • Tirahi: gọ̈̄
  • Torwali: گو (gō)
  • Palula: گو (gū)
  • Pashayi:
    • Northeast Pashayi: gō
    • Southeast Pashayi: gā
  • Shina: گو (gū)
• Prakrit: 𑀕𑁄 (go), ⇒ *𑀕𑀸𑀯 (*gāva)
  • ⇒ Prakrit: 𑀕𑀸𑀯𑀻 f (gāvī), 𑀕𑀸𑀈 f (gāī) (see there for further descendants)
  • Insular Indo-Aryan:
    • Sinhalese: ගව (gawa)
  • Northwestern Indo-Aryan:
    • Punjabi:

      Gurmukhi script: ਗਾਂ (gā̃)

      Shahmukhi script: گاں (gāṉ)

• Pali: go, gāva
  • → Khmer: គោ (koo)
  • → Thai: โค (koo)

Borrowed terms

• → Hindi: गौ (gau)
• → Telugu: గోవు (gōvu)

References

• Monier Williams (1899), “गो”, in A Sanskrit–English Dictionary, […], new edition, Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 363, column 3.
• Mayrhofer, Manfred (1992), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen [Etymological Dictionary of Old Indo-Aryan]‎^[1] (in German), volume 1, Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, pages 478-80; 496