बिम्ब

Sanskrit

Alternative scripts

Etymology

Probably an independent formation of sound-symbolic origin, using bilabial stops to convey the image of a rounded object; compare Ancient Greek βέμβῐξ (bémbix, “spinning top; whirlpool”) for a similar formation, as well as the bouba-kiki effect for more on the phenomenon.

Pronunciation

• (Vedic) IPA^(key): /bim.bɐ/
• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈbim.bɐ/

Noun

बिम्ब • (bimba) stem, m or n

1. the disc of the sun or moon
2. any sphere, orb, or disc (esp. of any rounded part of the body, such as the hips, buttocks, etc.)
3. a mirror
4. an image, shadow, reflection, picture, type
5. (rhetoric) the object compared (as opposed to प्रतिबिम्ब (pratibimba), the counterpart to which it is compared)

Declension

Noun

बिम्ब • (bimba) stem, m

1. a lizard, chameleon

Descendants

• → Malayalam: ബിംബം (bimbaṁ)
• → Thai: พิมพ์ (pim)

References

• Monier Williams (1899) “बिम्ब”, in A Sanskrit–English Dictionary, , new edition, Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 731/3.
• Apte, Macdonell (2022) “बिम्ब”, in Digital Dictionaries of South India [Combined Sanskrit Dictionaries]
• Mayrhofer, Manfred (1996) Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen [Etymological Dictionary of Old Indo-Aryan]‎ (in German), volume 2, Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, page 225