किम्

• कद् (kad), कि (ki), क (ka), कु (ku) — alternative stems

Excluding the neuter form किम् (kim) itself, inherited from Proto-Indo-Aryan *kás, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *kás, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷós.

• (Vedic) IPA^(key): /kím/
• (Classical Sanskrit) IPA^(key): /kim/

किम् • (kim)

1. used as a particle of interrogation

   किं व्याधा वने ऽस्मिन् संचरन्ति?

   kiṃ vyādhā vane ʼsmin saṃcaranti?

   Do hunters roam about in this wood?

   किम् एषश्चषको बृहत्? ― kim eṣaścaṣako bṛhat? ― Is this cup big?

Compare the usage of Latin num or an; sometimes translatable in isolation by "whether?" but oftener serving only like a note of interrogation to mark a question.

Can be followed in this indeclinable form by a large number of other particles to shade the meaning or merely emphasize:

किम् • (kim)

1. (often followed by किल (kila)) what a pity!

किम् • (kím)^[3]

1. what, who (interrogative)

   त्वम् किम् वदसि?

   tvam kim vadasi?

   What are you saying?

2. whoever, whatever, anyone, someone (indefinite)
   1. (followed by चन (cana)) nothing, nobody, anyone, anybody (meaning dependent on context)

      यस्माद् इन्द्राद् ऋते किंचन

      yasmād indrād ṛte kiṃcana

      Without Indra there is nothing.

      कश्चन। न कश्चन

      kaścana. na kaścana

      Any one. No one.

3. (with or without the copula अस् (as)) used to form sentences meaning "how is it possible that" or "what power(s) have I, you, they, etc"

   के मम धन्विनोऽन्ये

   ke mama dhanvinoʼnye

   What can the other archers do against me?

   के आवाम् परित्रातुम्

   ke āvām paritrātum

   What power have we to rescue you?

4. (with a noun in the instrumental case or the gerund of a verb) expresses "what is gained by doing so?"

   किं विलम्बेन

   kiṃ vilambena

   What is gained by delay?

   धनेन किं यो न ददाति

   dhanena kiṃ yo na dadāti

   What is the use of wealth to him who does not give?

किम् • (kim)

1. what, whose (relative)

Direct or indirect interrogative clauses introduced by किम् (kim) are often terminated by इति (iti), as in कस्य स पुत्र इति कथ्यताम् (kasya sa putra iti kathyatām, “Let it be said, 'Whose son is he?'”). Without इति (iti), किम् (kim) tends to be used as a relative determiner, as in कस्य स पुत्रो न ज्ञायते (kasya sa putro na jñāyate, “It is not known whose son he is”).

• किमीय (kimīya, “whose”)
• किम्मय (kimmaya, “consisting of what?”)

See also descendants of किंचिद् (kiṃcid).

• Turner, Ralph Lilley (1969–1985) “kim”, in A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages, London: Oxford University Press, page 161