शङ्ख

Apparently from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóngʰ-os with unexplained devoicing of the velar stop; doubtfully connected to Ancient Greek κόγχος (kónkhos).

• (Vedic) IPA^(key): /ɕɐŋ.kʰɐ́/
• (Classical Sanskrit) IPA^(key): /ˈɕɐŋ.kʰɐ/

शङ्ख • (śaṅkhá) stem, m or n

1. a shell, (especially) the conch-shell (used for making libations of water or as an ornament for the arms or for the temples of an elephant ; a conch-shell perforated at one end is also used as a wind instrument or horn; in the battles of epic poetry, each hero being represented as provided with a conch-shell which serves as his horn or trumpet and often has a name)
2. a particularly high number (said to equal hundred of billions)

• शङ्खक (śaṅkhaka)
• शङ्खपाणि (śaṅkhapāṇi)

• Pali: saṅkha
• Prakrit: 𑀲𑀗𑁆𑀔 (saṅkha)
  • Central:
    • Hindustani: saṅkh
      • Hindi: शंख
      • Urdu: سَنکھ
  • Eastern:
    • Assamese: শাঁক (xãk)
    • Bengali: শাঁখ (śãkh)
    • Odia: ସଂଖା (saṅkhā)
  • Northern:
    • Kumaoni: साँख (sā̃kh), साँक (sā̃k)
  • Northwestern:
    • Punjabi: saṉkh ("one hundred quadrillion")

      Gurmukhi script: ਸੰਖ

      Shahmukhi script: سنکھ

    • Punjabi: saṉgh ("conch")

      Gurmukhi script: ਸੰਘ

      Shahmukhi script: سنگھ

    • Sindhi: saṅghī

      Arabic script: سَنگهِي

      Devanagari script: संघी

  • Southern:
    • Dhivehi: ސަންގު (san̊gu)
    • Sinhalese: සක (saka)

Borrowed terms

• → Kannada: ಶಂಖ (śaṅkha)
• → Malayalam: ചങ്ക് (caṅkŭ), ശംഖ് (śaṅkhŭ), ശംഖം (śaṅkhaṁ)
• → Tamil: சங்கு (caṅku)
• → Telugu: శంఖము (śaṅkhamu)

• Monier Williams (1899) “शङ्ख”, in A Sanskrit–English Dictionary, , new edition, Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 1047.
• Turner, Ralph Lilley (1969–1985) “śaṅkha”, in A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages, London: Oxford University Press