کوا

Urdu

Etymology

First attested in c. 1609 as Middle Hindi کَوا (kau(v)ā /⁠kvā⁠/), inherited from Sauraseni Prakrit 𑀓𑀸𑀬 (kāya), from Sanskrit काक (kā́ka). Compare Kashmiri کاو (kāv), Punjabi کاں (kāṉ) and کَن٘و (kaṉv), Sindhi ڪَان (kā̃) and ڪَاءُن (kā̃ũ), Shina کاں (kā̃), Bengali কাউয়া (kauẏa). Doublet of کاگ (kāg).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /kəʋ.ʋɑː/
• Rhymes: -ɑː

Noun

کَوَّا • (kavvā) m (Hindi spelling कौआ or कौवा)

1. crow, raven
2. jackdaw
3. (figuratively) cunning

Declension

Declension of کوا
	singular	plural
direct	کَوّا (kavvā)	کَوّے (kavve)
oblique	کَوّے (kavve)	کَوّوں (kavvõ)
vocative	کَوّے (kavve)	کَوّو (kavvo)

Further reading

• “کوا”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.
• “کوا”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2024.
• Qureshi, Bashir Ahmad (1971) “کوا”, in Kitabistan's 20th Century Standard Dictionary‎, Lahore: Kitabistan Pub. Co.
• Platts, John T. (1884) “کوا”, in A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English, London: W. H. Allen & Co.
• S. W. Fallon (1879) “کوا”, in A New Hindustani-English Dictionary, Banaras, London: Trubner and Co., page 953
• John Shakespear (1834) “کوا”, in A dictionary, Hindustani and English: with a copious index, fitting the work to serve, also, as a dictionary of English and Hindustani, 3^rd edition, London: J.L. Cox and Son, →OCLC
• Turner, Ralph Lilley (1969–1985) “kā́ka”, in A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages, London: Oxford University Press, page 152