चिट्ठी

Hindi

Alternative forms

• चीठी (cīṭhī)
• चिठ्ठी (ciṭhṭhī)

Etymology

Inherited from Sanskrit *चिष्ट (*ciṣṭa, “message”) + Middle Indo-Aryan -𑀇𑀓𑀸- (-ikā-). Compare Punjabi ਚਿੱਟ (ciṭṭa) / چِٹّ (ciṭṭ), Nepali चिठी (ciṭhī), Gujarati ચિઠ્ઠી (ciṭhṭhī), Marathi चिठ्ठी (ciṭhṭhī), Bengali চিঠি (ciṭhi), Assamese চিঠি (sithi).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Hindi) IPA^(key): /t͡ʃɪʈ.ʈʰiː/, [t͡ʃɪʈ̚.ʈʰiː]

Noun

चिट्ठी • (ciṭṭhī) f (Urdu spelling چِٹِّھی)

1. letter (written message)

   Synonyms: ख़त (xat), पत्र (patra)

2. bill
3. ballot

Declension

Declension of चिट्ठी (fem ī-stem)

	singular	plural
direct	चिट्ठी ciṭṭhī	चिट्ठियाँ ciṭṭhiyā̃
oblique	चिट्ठी ciṭṭhī	चिट्ठियों ciṭṭhiyõ
vocative	चिट्ठी ciṭṭhī	चिट्ठियो ciṭṭhiyo

Descendants

• → English: chitty
  • ⇒ English: chit
• → Malayalam: ചീട്ട് (cīṭṭŭ)
• → Tamil: சீட்டு (cīṭṭu)
• → Telugu: చీటీ (cīṭī)

Further reading

• McGregor, Ronald Stuart (1993), “चिठ्ठी”, in The Oxford Hindi-English Dictionary, London: Oxford University Press, page 316