ਉਂਗਲ

Ungal (ਉਂਗਲ) is the Punjabi word for a finger: one of the five slender, jointed parts at the end of the hand. Fingers count, point, grip, type, play the tumbi and hold a pen, and Punjabi names them with this one short word, heard at home just as often in its longer spoken form, ungli (ਉਂਗਲੀ).

What does ungal mean in Punjabi?

Ungal means finger. Wiktionary, citing the Punjabi University Punjabi-English Dictionary, gives ਉਂਗਲ (uṅgal) as a feminine noun meaning finger, with the Shahmukhi spelling انگل. The plural is unglan (ਉਂਗਲਾਂ), fingers. Dictionaries also list finger as ਉਂਗਲੀ (uṅglī), the form many speakers use in the bazaar and at home; both name the same thing.

What are the fingers called in Punjabi?

Each finger joins ungal to a describing word. The thumb stands apart as angutha (ਅੰਗੂਠਾ). Next comes the pointing finger, tarjani ungal, then madhli ungal, the middle finger, the longest of the five. Khandbahale's dictionary gives both of those compound names, tarjani ungal for the index finger and madhli ungal for the middle finger, so a learner can name a hand finger by finger.

What does panjon unglan ikko jehian nahin hundian mean?

It means the five fingers are not all equal: all are not alike, and not everyone is equally good or bad. Rekhta's dictionary records this proverb and gives exactly that sense. Elders reach for it when a family, a class or a whole village is judged by one person's behaviour: look at your own hand, they say, even fingers born together differ in length.

In daily speech the finger also points blame: ungal uthna, a finger rising, is to be accused, and ungal karni is to point someone out. Children learn the word early, counting one to five on a grandmother's hand, which is why ungal belongs with hath (ਹੱਥ), hand: name the hand, then name its five workers.