ਰੁੱਤ

Rutt (ਰੁੱਤ) is the Punjabi word for a season: one of the named stretches into which the year is divided. It is a feminine noun, and it is the building block of every Punjabi season name: basant rutt is spring, garmi rutt is summer, and siaal rutt is winter.

What does rutt mean in Punjabi?

Rutt means season, and learner guides give rutt or mausam as the Punjabi words for it. Where mausam can also mean today's weather, rutt always names a stretch of the year. The plural is ruttan, the seasons, and a favourite first question for learners is built on it: tuhadi manpasand rutt kihri hai, which season is your favourite.

The word carries an old history. It is the Punjabi form of the Sanskrit ritu, a fixed or appointed time, from a root meaning the order or course of things. The six ritu of the old calendar stand behind the six traditional Punjabi rutts, and the word still carries that sense of a time that comes round in its proper order.

What are the seasons in Punjabi called?

Modern Punjabi names four: basant rutt, spring; garmi rutt, summer; sharad rutt, autumn; and siaal rutt, winter. Traditional culture counts six, adding varkha rutt, the monsoon, and hemant rutt, the weeks just before winter. In everyday use the single seasons also stand alone as basant, garmi, patjhar and sardi, and each has its own page in this Kosh.

How is rutt different from mausam?

Mausam is the wider word: it is the weather on a given day, and only by extension the feel of a whole season. Rutt is narrower and steadier: it names the season itself, the stretch of the year that returns on schedule. Asking about today takes mausam; naming the time of year takes rutt.