ਖੇਤੀ ਤੇ ਪਿੰਡ ਦੇ ਸ਼ਬਦ

Punjab means the land of five rivers, and its oldest vocabulary is the vocabulary of farming. These are the words of the crop cycle and the village that lives by it: seeds and harvests, ploughs and levellers, land records and grain markets, and the shared spaces, the courtyard, the common and the meeting platform, where village life happens. Every word links to its full Kosh page, with example sentences and the story behind the word.

The crops

<a href="/kosh/words/kanak/">ਕਣਕ (kanak)</a> - wheat, Punjab's staple grain

<a href="/kosh/words/jhona/">ਝੋਨਾ (jhona)</a> - paddy, the monsoon rice crop

<a href="/kosh/words/sarson/">ਸਰਸੋਂ (sarson)</a> - mustard, the winter crop of yellow flowers

<a href="/kosh/words/ganna/">ਗੰਨਾ (ganna)</a> - sugarcane, the source of gur

<a href="/kosh/words/narma/">ਨਰਮਾ (narma)</a> - cotton, the white fibre crop

<a href="/kosh/words/fasal/">ਫ਼ਸਲ (fasal)</a> - the crop, the season's harvest

<a href="/kosh/words/beej/">ਬੀਜ (beej)</a> - seed, the beginning of the crop

<a href="/kosh/words/pathhe/">ਪੱਠੇ (pathhe)</a> - green fodder, the fresh crops cut daily for cattle

<a href="/kosh/words/tudi/">ਤੂੜੀ (tudi)</a> - chopped wheat straw, the stored dry fodder

Tools of the field

<a href="/kosh/words/hal/">ਹਲ (hal)</a> - the plough, the farmer's tilling implement

<a href="/kosh/words/kassi/">ਕੱਸੀ (kassi)</a> - the hoe, a short-handled digging tool

<a href="/kosh/words/gandasa/">ਗੰਡਾਸਾ (gandasa)</a> - a long-handled farming implement with a wide blade

<a href="/kosh/words/suhaga/">ਸੁਹਾਗਾ (suhaga)</a> - the heavy plank leveller dragged over ploughed fields

Land, water and the market

<a href="/kosh/words/khet/">ਖੇਤ (khet)</a> - a field, farmland

<a href="/kosh/words/kheti/">ਖੇਤੀ (kheti)</a> - farming, agriculture

<a href="/kosh/words/mitti/">ਮਿੱਟੀ (mitti)</a> - soil, earth

<a href="/kosh/words/zameen/">ਜ਼ਮੀਨ (zameen)</a> - land

<a href="/kosh/words/khaad/">ਖਾਦ (khaad)</a> - fertiliser, manure

<a href="/kosh/words/sinjai/">ਸਿੰਜਾਈ (sinjai)</a> - irrigation, the watering of fields

<a href="/kosh/words/parali/">ਪਰਾਲੀ (parali)</a> - paddy straw left in the fields after harvest

<a href="/kosh/words/khuh/">ਖੂਹ (khuh)</a> - the well, the village's water source

<a href="/kosh/words/jamabandi/">ਜਮਾਬੰਦੀ (jamabandi)</a> - the land record, the record of rights

<a href="/kosh/words/mandi/">ਮੰਡੀ (mandi)</a> - the grain market where farmers sell their produce

Village life

<a href="/kosh/words/pind/">ਪਿੰਡ (pind)</a> - village

<a href="/kosh/words/chaupal/">ਚੌਪਾਲ (chaupal)</a> - the village hall, the community meeting place

<a href="/kosh/words/sath/">ਸੱਥ (sath)</a> - the village common, the elders' gathering platform

<a href="/kosh/words/vehra/">ਵੇਹੜਾ (vehra)</a> - the courtyard, the open heart of the house

<a href="/kosh/words/dera/">ਡੇਰਾ (dera)</a> - a farmstead, a dwelling out on one's land

<a href="/kosh/words/hali/">ਹਾਲੀ (hali)</a> - the ploughman, the driver of the plough

<a href="/kosh/words/zamindar/">ਜ਼ਿਮੀਂਦਾਰ (zamindar)</a> - a landowner, a holder of farmland

<a href="/kosh/words/jatt/">ਜੱਟ (jatt)</a> - the Punjabi farmer; a member of the Jat community

<a href="/kosh/words/pendu/">ਪੇਂਡੂ (pendu)</a> - a villager, rural; sometimes used teasingly

How to use these words

Learn these words in the order of the farming year. Sowing starts with ਬੀਜ (beej), the seed, and work in the ਖੇਤ (khet), the field; the crop, ਫ਼ਸਲ (fasal), is cut at harvest and carried to the ਮੰਡੀ (mandi) to be sold. A learner who can follow that one journey, sowing, watering, harvest, market, can follow most village talk.

Many of these words travel far beyond the farm. ਮਿੱਟੀ (mitti), soil, is also what a person is made of and returns to, and ਪਿੰਡ (pind) is the word every diaspora family uses for the home village, however long ago they left. The full Kosh pages carry those second meanings too.

What is the Punjabi word for farming?

Farming in Punjabi is ਖੇਤੀ (kheti), and a field is ਖੇਤ (khet). A farmer is most often called a ਜੱਟ (jatt) or a ਕਿਸਾਨ (kisaan) in modern usage.

What does pind mean in Punjabi?

ਪਿੰਡ (pind) means village. For diaspora Punjabis it usually means the ancestral village in Punjab, the place the family comes from.

What is a mandi in Punjab?

A ਮੰਡੀ (mandi) is the grain market where farmers bring their harvest to sell. Punjab's mandis are among the largest grain markets in India, and the word is also used for the market town itself.