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 (jāti)

Borrowed from Sanskrit जा॒ति (jātí).

Pronunciation

• (Delhi) 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 (jāti)

Borrowed from Sanskrit जा॒ति (jātí).

Pronunciation

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

Noun

जाति • (jāti)

1. ethnic group
2. race

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 (jātí)

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 जाति

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	जातिः (jātíḥ)	जाती (jātī́)	जातयः (jātáyaḥ)
accusative	जातिम् (jātím)	जाती (jātī́)	जातीः (jātī́ḥ)
instrumental	जात्या (jātyā́) जाती¹ (jātī́¹)	जातिभ्याम् (jātíbhyām)	जातिभिः (jātíbhiḥ)
dative	जातये (jātáye) जात्यै² (jātyái²) जाती¹ (jātī́¹)	जातिभ्याम् (jātíbhyām)	जातिभ्यः (jātíbhyaḥ)
ablative	जातेः (jātéḥ) जात्याः² (jātyā́ḥ²) जात्यै³ (jātyái³)	जातिभ्याम् (jātíbhyām)	जातिभ्यः (jātíbhyaḥ)
genitive	जातेः (jātéḥ) जात्याः² (jātyā́ḥ²) जात्यै³ (jātyái³)	जात्योः (jātyóḥ)	जातीनाम् (jātīnā́m)
locative	जातौ (jātáu) जात्याम्² (jātyā́m²) जाता¹ (jātā́¹)	जात्योः (jātyóḥ)	जातिषु (jātíṣu)
vocative	जाते (jā́te)	जाती (jā́tī)	जातयः (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