ঝি

Inherited from Magadhi Prakrit *𑀛𑀺𑀅 ~ 𑀥𑀺𑀅 (*jhia ~ dhia), from Old Indo-Aryan *jhitā ~ *dhitā (compare attested দুহিতা (dúhitā)), from Proto-Indo-Aryan *dúźʰHtā with syncope, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *dʰúj́ʰHtā, from an earlier *dʰúǵʰHtā, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰugh₂tḗr (“daughter”).

The Old Indo-Aryan word morphed unusually with metathesis of aspiration (compare বইন ~ বোন (boin ~ bōn), from Old Indo-Aryan *baghinī ~ bhaginī), deletion of the first vowel and lengthening of the second vowel in many Middle and New Indo-Aryan descendants, with additional palatalization (dh to jh ) in eastern (Magadhan), northwestern (Dardic), southwestern (Old Gujarati) and southern (Old Sinhalese) ones – indicating influence from a possibly pre-Vedic Indo-Aryan language (with loss of the first vowel and sporadic retention of the resulting cluster ; any way, causing the second vowel to be stressed and lengthened) or a non-Indo-European substrate.

• (standard, Rarh, Varendra) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒʱi/, ,

  Audio:

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• (Rarh) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒʱi/,

  Audio:

  (file)

• (Dhaka) IPA^(key): /dʑʱi/, ,
• (Vanga) IPA^(key): /zi/, , ,

ঝি • (jhi)

1. daughter

   Synonyms: পুত্রী (putri), মেয়ে (meẏe), কন্যা (konna)

2. maidservant

• ঝিকে মেরে বউকে শেখানো (jhike mere bouke śekhanō)

• Subhasha Bhattacarya, Sailendra Biswas, Sailendra Biswas, and Jnanendramohana Dasa (2022) “ঝি”, in Digital Dictionaries of South Asia [Combined Bengali Dictionaries]
• Sen, Sukumar (1971) An Etymological Dictionary of Bengali: c. 1000-1800 A.D.‎, volume 1, Calcutta: Eastern Publishers, page 345.