ছেলে

ছেলে

See also: ছোলা

Bengali

Etymology

The standard variant of the now rarer form ছেলি (cheli), from Middle Bengali ছেলিয়া (cheliẏā, “young person or animal”), from Prakrit *𑀙𑁂𑀮-𑀈𑀆 (*chela-īā), from Sanskrit छेलिका (chelikā), from छगलिका (chagalikā, “kid, young goat”), a diminutive of छगल (chagala, “goat”);[1] the semantic shift of a word for the young of a farm animal to mean the offspring of people is not uncommon (compare Bengali বাচ্চা (bacca) and বৎস (bôtsô), both of which came from words originally used to refer to calves). Probably also influenced by ছাবাল (chabal), from ছা (cha, “young person or animal”, from Sanskrit शाव (śāva)) + বাল (bal, “boy”, from Sanskrit बाल (bāla)).[2]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʃʰele/ (Standard)
• IPA^(key): /sele/ (Eastern)

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

ছেলে • (chele)

1. boy
2. son
3. guy

Inflection

Inflection of ছেলে
nominative	ছেলে chele
objective	ছেলেকে cheleke
genitive	ছেলের cheler
	Indefinite forms
nominative	ছেলে chele
objective	ছেলেকে cheleke
genitive	ছেলের cheler
	Definite forms
	singular		plural
nominative	ছেলেটা, ছেলেটি cheleṭa (colloquial), cheleṭi (formal)		ছেলেরা chelera
objective	ছেলেটাকে, ছেলেটিকে cheleṭake (colloquial), cheleṭike (formal)		ছেলেদের(কে) cheleder(ke)
genitive	ছেলেটার, ছেলেটির cheleṭar (colloquial), cheleṭir (formal)		ছেলেদের cheleder
Objective Note: In some dialects -রে (-re) marks this case instead of -কে (-ke).

Derived terms

• ছেলেমানুষ (chelemanush)
• ছেলেপেলে (chelepele)

References

1. Turner, Ralph Lilley (1969–1985), “chele”, in A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages, London: Oxford University Press, page 271
2. Haughton, Graves C. (1833), “ছেলে”, in A Dictionary, Bengálí and Sanskrit, Explained in English, and Adapted for Students of Either Language, London: J. L. Cox & Son, page 1136, 1138