হ্যাঁ

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Bengali

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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A colloquial variant of the now rarer হাঁ () with nasal coloring increasing vowel height (compare ন্যাংটা (nêṅṭa), from earlier নাংটা (naṅṭa), and ব্যাঁকা (bễka) from বাঁকা (bãka)) from Prakrit *𑀳𑀸𑀁 (*hāṃ), from Sanskrit आम् (ām, yes), probably related to or a variant of (óṃ), with contamination of the emphatic particle (ha) and/or the verb 𑀳𑁄𑀇 (hoi) (whence হওয়া (hoōẇa)). Cognate with Odia ହଁ (), Hindustani ہاں / हाँ (hā̃), Gujarati હાં (hā̃), Marwari हां (hā̃), Nepali हाँ (hā̃), Marathi हां (hā̃), Punjabi ਹਾਂ (hā̃), Khowar ہا (). Doublet of (ho) and আঁ (ã), a variant unaffected by the contamination.[1]

Pronunciation

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Particle

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হ্যাঁ (hễ)

  1. yes

References

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  1. ^ Turner, Ralph Lilley (1969–1985) “*ām2”, in A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages, London: Oxford University Press