जाति

See also: जाता, जंतु, ज़ात, जीत, जूता, ज़ाती, and जाती

Hindi

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁-

Proto-Indo-European *-tis

Proto-Indo-European *ǵénh₁tis

Sanskrit जा॒ति (jātí)bor.

Hindi जाति

Borrowed from Sanskrit जा॒ति (jātí).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Hindi) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒɑː.t̪iː/, [d͡ʒäː.t̪iː]

Noun

जाति • (jāti) f (Urdu spelling جاتی)

1. birth
2. caste; subcaste, community; community placed in at birth
3. high caste
4. race
5. (taxonomy) species
6. tribe, nationality, lineage

Declension

Declension of जाति (fem i-stem)

	singular	plural
direct	जाति jāti	जातियाँ jātiyā̃
oblique	जाति jāti	जातियों jātiyõ
vocative	जाति jāti	जातियो jātiyo

Derived terms

• जातिगत (jātigat)
• जातिवाद (jātivād)
• जाति ना पूछो साधु की; पूछ लीजिए ज्ञान (jāti nā pūcho sādhu kī; pūch lījie jñān)

Related terms

taxonomic ranksedit

• प्रक्षेत्र (prakṣetra), अधिजगत (adhijgat)
• जगत् (jagat)
• संघ (saṅgh)
• वर्ग (varg)
• गण (gaṇ)
• कुल (kul)
• वंश (vañś)
• जाति (jāti)

Nepali

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁-

Proto-Indo-European *-tis

Proto-Indo-European *ǵénh₁tis

Sanskrit जा॒ति (jātí)bor.

Nepali जाति

Borrowed from Sanskrit जा॒ति (jātí).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [d͡zät̪i]
• Phonetic Devanagari: जाति

Noun

जाति • (jāti)

1. ethnic group
2. race

Old Hindi

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁-

Proto-Indo-European *-tis

Proto-Indo-European *ǵénh₁tis

Sanskrit जा॒ति (jātí)bor.

Old Hindi जाति

Borrowed from Sanskrit जा॒ति (jātí).

Noun

जाति (jāti)

1. caste (birth-based group)
   • c. 1420, Kabīr, Kabīr Vāṇī:

     जाति जुलाहौ मति कौ धीर ।
     हरषि हरषि गुण रंमै कबीर ॥

     jāti julāhau mati kau dhīra.
     haraṣi haraṣi guṇa raṃmai kabīra.

     A weaver by caste and with a firm mind, Kabir, rejoicing, is engrossed in praise [of the Lord].

Pali

Alternative forms

Alternative scripts

• jāti (Latin script)
• 𑀚𑀸𑀢𑀺 (Brahmi script)
• জাতি (Bengali script)
• ජාති (Sinhalese script)
• ဇာတိ or ၹႃတိ (Burmese script)
• ชาติ (Thai script)
• ᨩᩣᨲᩥ (Tai Tham script)
• ຊາຕິ (Lao script)
• ជាតិ (Khmer script)
• 𑄎𑄂𑄖𑄨 (Chakma script)

Noun

जाति f

1. Devanagari script form of jāti

Sanskrit

Alternative scripts

Alternative scripts

• জাতি (Assamese script)
• ᬚᬵᬢᬶ (Balinese script)
• জাতি (Bengali script)
• 𑰕𑰯𑰝𑰰 (Bhaiksuki script)
• 𑀚𑀸𑀢𑀺 (Brahmi script)
• ဇာတိ (Burmese script)
• જાતિ (Gujarati script)
• ਜਾਤਿ (Gurmukhi script)
• 𑌜𑌾𑌤𑌿 (Grantha script)
• ꦗꦴꦠꦶ (Javanese script)
• 𑂔𑂰𑂞𑂱 (Kaithi script)
• ಜಾತಿ (Kannada script)
• ជាតិ (Khmer script)
• ຊາຕິ (Lao script)
• ജാതി (Malayalam script)
• ᡯᠠ᠎᠊ᠠᢠᡳ (Manchu script)
• 𑘕𑘰𑘝𑘱 (Modi script)
• ᠽᠠᢗᢐᠢ (Mongolian script)
• 𑦵𑧑𑦽𑧒 (Nandinagari script)
• 𑐖𑐵𑐟𑐶 (Newa script)
• ଜାତି (Odia script)
• ꢙꢵꢡꢶ (Saurashtra script)
• 𑆘𑆳𑆠𑆴 (Sharada script)
• 𑖕𑖯𑖝𑖰 (Siddham script)
• ජාති (Sinhalese script)
• 𑩣𑩛𑩫𑩑 (Soyombo script)
• 𑚑𑚭𑚙𑚮 (Takri script)
• ஜாதி (Tamil script)
• జాతి (Telugu script)
• ชาติ (Thai script)
• ཛཱ་ཏི (Tibetan script)
• 𑒖𑒰𑒞𑒱 (Tirhuta script)
• 𑨥𑨊𑨙𑨁 (Zanabazar Square script)

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁-

Proto-Indo-European *-tis

Proto-Indo-European *ǵénh₁tis

Sanskrit जा॒ति

From Proto-Indo-European *ǵénh₁-ti-s ~ *ǵn̥h₁-téy-s (“birth, production; kind”). Cognate with Latin gēns, Ancient Greek γένεσις (génesis), Proto-Germanic *kinþiz (whence English kind). By surface analysis, from the root जन् (jan) +‎ -ति (-ti).

Pronunciation

• (Vedic) IPA^(key): /d͡ʑɑː.tí/
• (Classical Sanskrit) IPA^(key): /d͡ʑɑː.t̪i/

Noun

जा॒ति • (jātí) stem, f

1. birth, production
2. rebirth
3. the form of existence (as man, animal, etc.) fixed by birth
4. position assigned by birth, rank, caste, family, race, lineage
5. kind, genus (as opposed to species), species (as opposed to individual), class
6. the generic properties (as opposed to the specific ones)
7. the character of a species, genuine or true state of anything
8. reduction of fractions to a common denominator
9. a self-confuting reply (founded merely on similarity or dissimilarity)
10. a particular figure of speech
11. a class of metres
12. a manner of singing
13. fireplace
14. mace, nutmeg

Declension

Feminine i-stem declension of जा॒ति

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	जा॒तिः (jātíḥ)	जा॒ती (jātī́)	जा॒तयः॑ (jātáyaḥ)
accusative	जा॒तिम् (jātím)	जा॒ती (jātī́)	जा॒तीः (jātī́ḥ)
instrumental	जा॒त्या (jātyā́) जा॒ती¹ (jātī́¹)	जा॒तिभ्या॑म् (jātíbhyām)	जा॒तिभिः॑ (jātíbhiḥ)
dative	जा॒तये॑ (jātáye) जा॒त्यै² (jātyái²) जा॒ती¹ (jātī́¹)	जा॒तिभ्या॑म् (jātíbhyām)	जा॒तिभ्यः॑ (jātíbhyaḥ)
ablative	जा॒तेः (jātéḥ) जा॒त्याः² (jātyā́ḥ²) जा॒त्यै³ (jātyái³)	जा॒तिभ्या॑म् (jātíbhyām)	जा॒तिभ्यः॑ (jātíbhyaḥ)
genitive	जा॒तेः (jātéḥ) जा॒त्याः² (jātyā́ḥ²) जा॒त्यै³ (jātyái³)	जा॒त्योः (jātyóḥ)	जा॒ती॒नाम् (jātīnā́m)
locative	जा॒तौ (jātáu) जा॒त्याम्² (jātyā́m²) जा॒ता¹ (jātā́¹)	जा॒त्योः (jātyóḥ)	जा॒तिषु॑ (jātíṣu)
vocative	जाते॑ (jā́te)	जाती॑ (jā́tī)	जात॑यः (jā́tayaḥ)

• ¹Vedic
• ²Later Sanskrit
• ³Brāhmaṇas

Borrowed terms

• Pali: jāti
• Prakrit: 𑀚𑀸𑀇 (jāi)

Borrowed terms

• → English: jati
• → Gujarati: જાત (jāt), જાતિ (jāti)
• → Hindi: जाति (jāti)
• → Khmer: ជាតិ (ciət)
• → Lao: ຊາດ (sāt)
• → Malay: jadi, jati
• → Cebuano: yati
• → Tagalog: yari
• → Nepali: जाति (jāti)
• → Old Javanese: jāti, jati (see there for further descendants)
• → Tamil: சாதி (cāti), ஜாதி (jāti)
• → Telugu: జాతి (jāti)
• → Thai: ญาติ (yâat), ชาติ (châat)

Further reading

• Monier Williams (1899), “जाति”, in A Sanskrit–English Dictionary, […], new edition, Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 418/1.
• Turner, Ralph Lilley (1969–1985), “jāti”, in A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages, London: Oxford University Press, page 285
• Milena Hübschmannová (February 2002), “Jati (Caste)”, in ROMBASE Cultural Database‎^[2], Prague, archived from the original on 19 August 2021