Hindi

Noun

काल • ‎(kāl) m

1. era, epoch, age, period
2. (grammar) tense

Sanskrit

Etymology 1

Adjective

काल • ‎(kāla)

1. black, of a dark colour, dark-blue

Declension

Noun

काल • ‎(kāla) m

1. A black or dark-blue colour
2. The black part of the eye
3. An Indian cuckoo
4. The poisonous serpent Coluber नाग ‎(nāga) (= कालसर्प ‎(kālasarpa))
5. (botany) Senna sophera (syn. Cassia sophera)
6. A red kind of Plumbago, probably Plumbago indica
7. Resin of the plant Shorea robusta.
8. The planet Saturn.
9. name of Shiva
10. name of Rudra
11. name of a son of Hrada
12. name of the prince Kāla-yavana
13. name of a brother of king Prasena-jit
14. name of a future Buddha
15. name of an author of mantras (= अश्वघोष ‎(aśva-ghoṣa))
16. name of a नागराज ‎(nāga-rāja)
17. name of a rakshasa
18. name of an enemy of shiva
19. name of a mountain
20. (Jainism) Of one of the nine treasures
21. A mystical name of the letter 'm'
22. The fruit of the काला ‎(kālā) g. हरीतक्यादि ‎(harītaky-ādi)
23. name of a shakti
24. name of a daughter of Daksha (the mother of the Kāleyas or Kālakeyas, a family of asuras)
25. name of Durga

Declension

Noun

काल • ‎(kāla) n

1. a black kind of agarwood from Agallochum (now Aquilaria)
2. a kind of perfume (कक्कोलक ‎(kakkolaka))
3. iron

Declension

Etymology 2

From the root √kal ‎(√kal, “to calculate or enumerate”).

Noun

काल • ‎(kāla) m

1. a fixed or right point of time, a space of time, time (in general)
2. the proper time or season for (+genitive, dative, locative, in compound, infinitive, or subjunctive with यद् ‎(yad)
   • RV 10.42.9b

     उत परहामतिदीव्या जयाति कर्तं यच्छ्वघ्नी विचिनोतिकाले |

     यो देवकामो न धना रुणद्धि समित तं रायास्र्जति सवधावान ||

     uta prahāmatidīvyā jayāti kṛtaṃ yacchvaghnī vicinotikāle |

     yo devakāmo na dhanā ruṇaddhi samit taṃ rāyāsṛjati svadhāvān ||

     Yea, by superior play he wins advantage, when he, a gambler, piles his gains in season.

     Celestial-natured, he o’erwhelms with riches the devotee who keeps not back his treasure.

   kālaḥ prasthānasya or prasthānāya or prasthāne — time for departure

   kriyā-kāla — time for action

   nā-yaṃ kālo vilambitum — this is not the time to delay

   kālo yad bhuñjīta bhavān — it is time for you to eat

3. occasion, circumstance
4. season
5. meal-time (twice a day)

   ubhau kālau — in the morning and in the evening

   ṣaṣṭhe kāle — in the evening of the third day

   ṣaṣṭhā-nna-kāla — one who eats only at the sixth meal-time, i.e. who passes five meals without eating and has no meal till the evening of the third day; or without अन्न ‎(anna):

   caturtha-kālam — at the fourth meal-time, i.e. at the evening of the second day

6. hour, hence:

   ṣaṣṭhe kāle 'hnaḥ — at the sixth hour of the day, i.e. at noon

7. a period of time, time of the world (= युग ‎(yuga))
8. measure of time, prosody
9. a section, part
10. the end
11. death by age
12. time (as leading to events, the causes of which are imperceptible to the mind of man), destiny, fate
13. time (as destroying all things), death, time of death (often personified and represented with the attributes of Yama, regent of the dead, or even identified with him: hence

    kālam-√i or kālaṃ-√kṛ — to die; kāla in this sense is frequently connected with अन्तक ‎(antaka), मृत्यु ‎(mṛtyu) e.g.

    abhy-adhāvata prajāḥ kāla ivā-ntakaḥ — he attacked the people like Time the destroyer; compare कालान्तक ‎(kālā*ntaka)

14. 'kāla personified is also a देवर्षि ‎(devarṣi) in Indra's court, and a son of Dhruva

Declension

Descendants

• Hindi: काल ‎(kāl)
• Khmer: កាល ‎(kaal)
• Pali: kāla

References

• Sir Monier Monier-Williams (1898) A Sanskrit-English dictionary etymologically and philologically arranged with special reference to cognate Indo-European languages, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 0277
• Agallochum at The Plant List