बिल्ली

See also: बिल्ला and बुल्ला

Hindi

बिल्ली

Etymology

Inherited from Sauraseni Prakrit [Term?], from Sanskrit बिदालिका (bidālikā), a diminutive form of Sanskrit बिडाल (biḍāla, “cat; eyeball”), from Dravidian.

Compare Proto-Dravidian *pillV, Tamil பில்லி (pilli). Cognate with Punjabi بِلَّا / ਬਿੱਲਾ (billā).

Pronunciation

• (Delhi) IPA^(key): /bɪl.liː/

Noun

बिल्ली • (billī) f (masculine बिल्ला, Urdu spelling بلی)

1. cat (of any gender)

   मेरी बिल्ली पूरे दिन सोती है ― merī billī pūre din sotī hai ― My cat sleeps all day

2. female cat

Usage notes

• Although this word is feminine and used for female cats, it is also used to mean domestic cat in general. The masculine form, or the word for tomcat, is बिल्ला (billā).

Declension

Declension of बिल्ली (fem ī-stem)

	singular	plural
direct	बिल्ली billī	बिल्लियाँ billiyā̃
oblique	बिल्ली billī	बिल्लियों billiyõ
vocative	बिल्ली billī	बिल्लियो billiyo

References

• McGregor, Ronald Stuart (1993) “बिल्ली”, in The Oxford Hindi-English Dictionary, London: Oxford University Press
• Platts, John T. (1884) “बिल्ली”, in A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English, London: W. H. Allen & Co.
• “बिल्ली”, in Collins Gem Hindi-English Dictionary, Collins, 2011, →ISBN
• Dāsa, Śyāmasundara (1965–1975) “बिल्ली”, in Hindī Śabdasāgara [lit. Sea of Hindi words] (in Hindi), Kashi [Varanasi]: Nagari Pracarini Sabha
• Turner, Ralph Lilley (1969–1985) “billī”, in A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages, London: Oxford University Press
• Caturvedi, Mahendra, Bhola Nath Tiwari (1970) “बिल्ली”, in A practical Hindi-English dictionary, Delhi: National Publishing House
• Bahri, Hardev (1989) “बिल्ली”, in Siksarthi Hindi-Angrejhi Sabdakosa [Learners' Hindi-English Dictionary], Delhi: Rajpal & Sons.