कनिष्ठ

Learned borrowing from Sanskrit कनिष्ठ (kaniṣṭha).

• (Delhi) IPA^(key): /kə.nɪʂʈʰ/,

कनिष्ठ • (kaniṣṭh) (indeclinable)

1. junior, lower-ranked

   Antonym: वरिष्ठ (variṣṭh)

From Proto-Indo-Aryan *kaniHṣṭʰas, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *kaniHštʰas, from Proto-Indo-European *ken-.

• (Vedic) IPA^(key): /kɐ.niʂ.ʈʰɐ́/
• (Classical Sanskrit) IPA^(key): /kɐˈn̪iʂ.ʈʰɐ/

• (Vedic) IPA^(key): /kɐ́.niʂ.ʈʰɐ/
• (Classical Sanskrit) IPA^(key): /kɐˈn̪iʂ.ʈʰɐ/

कनिष्ठ • (kaniṣṭhá or kániṣṭha) stem

1. youngest, younger-born
   • c. 1700 BCE – 1200 BCE, Ṛgveda 4.33.5:

     ज्ये॒ष्ठ आ॑ह चम॒सा द्वा क॒रेति॒ कनी॑या॒न्त्रीन्कृ॑णवा॒मेत्या॑ह।
     क॒नि॒ष्ठ आ॑ह च॒तुर॑स्क॒रेति॒ त्वष्ट॑ ऋभव॒स्तत्प॑नय॒द्वचो॑ वः॥

     jyeṣṭhá āha camasā́ dvā́ karéti kánīyāntrī́nkṛṇavāmétyāha.
     kaniṣṭhá āha catúraskaréti tváṣṭa ṛbhavastátpanayadváco vaḥ.

     Two beakers let us make,—thus said the eldest. Let us make three,—this was the younger's sentence.
     Four beakers let us make,—thus spoke the youngest. Tvaṣṭa approved this rede of yours, O Ṛbhus.

   • c. 1200 BCE – 1000 BCE, Atharvaveda
2. smallest, lowest, least
   • c. 700 BCE, Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa

• Pali: kaniṭṭha
• Sauraseni Prakrit: 𑀓𑀡𑀺𑀝𑁆𑀞 (kaṇiṭṭha)
• → Kannada: ಕನಿಷ್ಠ (kaniṣṭha)

• Monier Williams (1899) “कनिष्ठ”, in A Sanskrit–English Dictionary, , new edition, Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 248/3.
• Mayrhofer, Manfred (1992) Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen [Etymological Dictionary of Old Indo-Aryan]‎ (in German), volume 1, Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, page 297