হ্যাঁ

Bengali

Alternative forms

• হাঁ (hã)
• অ্যাঁ (ễ) — Vanga
• আঁ (ã) — without emphatic aspirate

Etymology

A colloquial variant of the now rarer হাঁ (hã) 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 ॐ (óṃ), with contamination of the emphatic particle ह (ha) and/or the verb 𑀳𑁄𑀇 (hoi) (whence হওয়া (hoōẇa)). Cognate with Odia ହଁ (hã), Hindustani ہاں / हाँ (hā̃), Gujarati હાં (hā̃), Marwari हां (hā̃), Nepali हाँ (hā̃), Marathi हां (hā̃), Punjabi ਹਾਂ (hā̃), Khowar ہا (hā). Doublet of হ (ho) and আঁ (ã), a variant unaffected by the contamination.

Pronunciation

• (Rarh) IPA^(key): /hæ̃/, [hæ̃ˑ]

  Audio:

  (file)

• (Dhaka) IPA^(key): /hæ̃/, [hæ̃ˑ]

  Audio:

  (file)

• (Vanga) IPA^(key): /hæ̃/, [hæ̃ˑ], [hæ̃ˑ]
• (Varendra) IPA^(key): /hæ̃/, [hæ̃ˑ]

Particle

হ্যাঁ • (hễ)

1. yes