कौन

कौन

See also: कुन, किन, कान, कोना, and कुनै

Hindi

Etymology

Inherited from Sauraseni Apabhramsa कवन (kavana), from Sanskrit कः पुनर् (kaḥ punar, “who”). Compare Gujarati કોણ (koṇ), Marathi कोण (koṇ), Assamese কোন (kün).

Pronunciation

• (Delhi Hindi) IPA^(key): /kɔːn/, [kɔ̃ːn̪]

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Pronoun

कौन • (kaun) (Urdu spelling کون‎)

1. (interrogative) who?

   कौन बोल रहे हैं? ― kaun bol rahe ha͠i? ― Who is speaking?

Declension

Declension of कौन
dir. sg.	कौन (kaun)
dir. pl.	कौन (kaun)
	singular	plural
direct	कौन (kaun)	कौन (kaun)
indirect	किस (kis)	किन (kin)
ergative	किसने (kisne)	किनहोंने (kinhõne)
genitive	किसका (kiskā)	किनका (kinkā)
dative	किसे (kise), किसको (kisko)	किनको (kinko), किनको (kinko)

Related terms

• क्या (kyā)

References

• McGregor, Ronald Stuart (1993), “कौन”, in The Oxford Hindi-English Dictionary, London: Oxford University Press
• Platts, John T. (1884), “कौन”, in A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English, London: W. H. Allen & Co.
• Turner, Ralph Lilley (1969–1985), “kaḥ punar”, in A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages, London: Oxford University Press, page 127
• “कौन”, in Collins Gem Hindi-English Dictionary, Collins, 2011, →ISBN