Pali

Alternative forms

Noun

बिन्दु n

1. Devanagari script form of bindu

Sanskrit

Alternative forms

• (later language) विन्दु ‎(vindu)

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-Aryan *bindú.

Noun

बिन्दु • ‎(bindú) m (once n)

1. a detached particle, drop, globule, dot, spot
2. (with हिरण्यय ‎(hiraṇyaya)) a pearl
3. a drop of water taken as a measure
4. a spot or mark of coloured paint on the body of an elephant
5. (at the end of a compound also बिन्दुक ‎(binduka)) the dot over a letter representing the anusvara (supposed to be connected with शिव ‎(śiva) and of great mystical importance)
6. a zero or cypher (in manuscripts put over an erased word to show that it ought not to be erased = "stet")
7. a particular mark like a dot made in cauterizing
8. a mark made by the teeth of a lover on the lips of his mistress
9. a coloured mark made on the forehead between the eyebrows
10. (in dramatic language) the sudden development of a secondary incident (which, like a drop of oil in water, expands and furnishes an important element in the plot)
11. name of a man g. बिदादि ‎(bidā-di)
12. name of an आङ्गिरस ‎(āṅgirasa) (author of RV. 8.83 and 9.30)
13. name of the author of a रसपद्धति ‎(rasa-paddhati)
14. (in the plural) name of a warrior tribe g. दामन्यादि ‎(dāmany-ādi)

Declension

Descendants

• Bengali: বিন্দু ‎(bindu)
• Telugu: బిందువు ‎(biṃduvu)
• Thai: พินทุ ‎(pin-tú)

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 0731