kanti

See also: känti

Esperanto

virino kantas

viro kantas pole

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *keh₂n-der.

Proto-Italic *kanō

Latin canō

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti

Proto-Italic *-āō

Latin -ō

Latin -tō

Latin cantōlbor.

Esperanto kanti

Learned borrowing from Latin cantāre. First attested in 1887.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkanti/

• Audio 1:

  (file)

• Audio 2:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -anti
• Syllabification: kan‧ti

Verb

kanti (present kantas, past kantis, future kantos, conditional kantus, volitive kantu)

2. (transitive, intransitive) to sing

   Ni kantu ion. ― Let's sing something.

   Mi ne estas muzikema, sed mi ŝatas kanti en duŝo. ― I am not musical, but I like to sing in the shower.

   • 2025 November 27, Renée Triolle, “La unua eŭropano, kiu vizitis Tibeton Alexandra David-Néel (1868-1969)”, in uea.facila‎^[1], archived from the original on 23 December 2025:

     Ŝi finfine edziniĝis en 1904 al la ĉefa inĝeniero de la tuniziaj fervojoj, Philippe Néel, kiam ŝi kantis ĉe la operejo de Tunizo.

     She finally got married in 1904 to the chief engineer of the Tunisian railways, Philippe Néel, when she sang at the opera house of Tunis.

Conjugation

Conjugation of kanti

		present		past		future
		singular	plural	singular	plural	singular	plural
tense		kantas		kantis		kantos
active participle		kantanta	kantantaj	kantinta	kantintaj	kantonta	kantontaj
	acc.	kantantan	kantantajn	kantintan	kantintajn	kantontan	kantontajn
passive participle		kantata	kantataj	kantita	kantitaj	kantota	kantotaj
	acc.	kantatan	kantatajn	kantitan	kantitajn	kantotan	kantotajn
nominal active participle		kantanto	kantantoj	kantinto	kantintoj	kantonto	kantontoj
	acc.	kantanton	kantantojn	kantinton	kantintojn	kantonton	kantontojn
nominal passive participle		kantato	kantatoj	kantito	kantitoj	kantoto	kantotoj
	acc.	kantaton	kantatojn	kantiton	kantitojn	kantoton	kantotojn
adverbial active participle		kantante		kantinte		kantonte
adverbial passive participle		kantate		kantite		kantote
		infinitive	kanti	imperative	kantu	conditional	kantus

Derived terms

nouns

• amkanto (“love song”)
• glorkanto (“song of glory”)
• kantado (“singing”) (the act)
• kantaĵo (“song”)
• kantanto (“one who is singing, singer”)
• kantistino (“professional female singer”)
• kantisto (“professional singer”)
• kanto (“song”)
• lulkanto (“lullaby”)

verbs

• alkanti (“to sing along”)
• antaŭkanti (“to sing before an audience”)
• ekkanti (“to begin to sing”)
• kantaĉi (“to sing badly”)

Further reading

Monolingual dictionaries

• “kanti”, in Plena Ilustrita Vortaro de Esperanto [Complete Illustrated Dictionary of Esperanto], 2020, →ISBN
• “kanti”, in Reta Vortaro [Online Dictionary] (in Esperanto), 1997-present
• Grosjean, Émile (1980), “kanti”, in Plena Vortaro de Esperanto‎^[2], →OL, page 217
• Bein, Kazimierz (1922), “kanti”, in Vortaro de Esperanto‎^[3], →OL, page 73
• “kanti”, in Praktika Bildvortaro de Esperanto‎^[4], Oxford University Press, 1979, →ISBN, page 65, line 14
• Benson, William (1932), “kant-i”, in Universala Esperanto-Metodo‎^[5], →OL, page 353

Multilingual dictionaries

• Benson, Peter J. (1995), “perform, render”, in Comprehensive English-Esperanto Dictionary‎^[6], →ISBN, pages 378, 427
• Butler, Montagu C. (1967), “kant-i”, in Esperanto-English Dictionary‎^[7], →OL, page 196

Hausa

Etymology

Borrowed from English canteen.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kàn.tíː/
  • (Standard Kano Hausa) IPA^(key): [kàn.tíː]

Noun

kàntī m (plural kantunā̀, possessed form kàntin)

1. shop, store

References

• Hausa vocabulary. In: Haspelmath, M. & Tadmor, U. (eds.) World Loanword Database. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

Ido

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkanti/

Noun

kanti

1. plural of kanto

Indonesian

Etymology

Borrowed from Javanese ꦏꦤ꧀ꦛꦶ (kanthi, “companion”), from Old Javanese kaṇṭi (“companion, ally”), probably from Sanskrit कान्ता (kāntā, “wife”), कान्त (kānta, “beloved”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkan.ti/
• Rhymes: -ti, -i
• Hyphenation: kan‧ti

Noun

kanti (plural kanti-kanti)

1. (rare) friend (person whose company one enjoys)

   Synonyms: bendu, dongan, handai, handai tolan, kamerad, kanca, karib, kawan, kenalan, kolega, kontak, mitra, perepat, rafik, rekan, sahabat, saki, sejawat, sekutu, sobat, sohib, teman, tolan

Derived terms

• penganti

Further reading

• “kanti”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Pali

Alternative forms

Alternative scripts

• 𑀓𑀦𑁆𑀢𑀺 (Brahmi script)
• कन्ति (Devanagari script)
• কন্তি (Bengali script)
• කන‍්ති (Sinhalese script)
• ကန္တိ or ၵၼ္တိ or ၵၼ်တိ (Burmese script)
• กนฺติ or กันติ (Thai script)
• ᨠᨶ᩠ᨲᩥ (Tai Tham script)
• ກນ຺ຕິ or ກັນຕິ (Lao script)
• កន្តិ (Khmer script)
• 𑄇𑄚𑄴𑄖𑄨 (Chakma script)

Etymology

Inherited from Sanskrit कान्ति (kānti). Cognate with Prakrit 𑀓𑀁𑀢𑀺 (kaṃti).

Noun

kanti f

1. beauty

   Synonyms: sobhaṇa, sobhā, pabhāsa, vilāsa, sirī

Declension

Declension table of "kanti" (feminine)

Case \ Number	Singular	Plural
Nominative (first)	kanti	kantiyo or kantī
Accusative (second)	kantiṃ	kantiyo or kantī
Instrumental (third)	kantiyā	kantīhi or kantībhi
Dative (fourth)	kantiyā	kantīnaṃ
Ablative (fifth)	kantiyā or kantyā	kantīhi or kantībhi
Genitive (sixth)	kantiyā	kantīnaṃ
Locative (seventh)	kantiyā or kantiyaṃ or kantyaṃ	kantīsu
Vocative (calling)	kanti	kantiyo or kantī

References

• Turner, Ralph Lilley (1969–1985), “kānti”, in A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages, London: Oxford University Press, page 155

Sranan Tongo

Verb

kanti

1. to cast

Tagalog

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /kanˈtiʔ/ [kɐn̪ˈt̪ɪʔ]
• Rhymes: -iʔ
• Syllabification: kan‧ti

Noun

kantî (Baybayin spelling ᜃᜈ᜔ᜆᜒ)

1. light or gentle hit or tap

   Synonyms: tapik, dantik, kalabit, haplos, sagi

Derived terms

• kantiin
• pagkanti

Further reading

• “kanti”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, 2018

Anagrams

• takin, antik, iknat

Tocharian A

Noun

kanti ?

1. gong, cymbal

Tocharian B

Noun

kanti ?

1. bread

Zulu

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /kantîː/

Adverb

kantî

1. after all, however, nevertheless, notwithstanding
2. in fact

Conjunction

kantî

1. whereas

Interjection

kanti

1. so what?, who cares?

References

• C. M. Doke; B. W. Vilakazi (1972), “kanti”, in Zulu-English Dictionary, →ISBN: “kanti (6.3-8)”