খাওয়া (Bengali)
Where does "খাওয়া" come from?
The Bengali verb 'khawa' (to eat) has a deep history that traces back to the Proto-Indo-European root *kʷh₂ed-. It evolved through Proto-Indo-Iranian into the Sanskrit 'khā́dati', which originally meant to bite or consume, before transitioning into the Magadhi Prakrit form 'khāyaï'. Today, this linguistic descendant is widely used across many Indo-Aryan languages to describe the act of eating, drinking, or even experiencing something.
Full etymology tree
- খাওয়া (Bengali), 'to eat'
- inherited 𑀔𑀸𑀬𑀇 (khāyaï) (Magadhi Prakrit)
- inherited खादति (khā́dati) (Sanskrit), 'to chew, bite, eat, devour, feed, prey upon'
- inherited *kʰā́dati (Proto-Indo-Iranian)
- inherited *kʷh₂ḗdeti (Proto-Indo-European)
- derived *kʷh₂ed- (Proto-Indo-European)
- inherited *kʷh₂ḗdeti (Proto-Indo-European)
- inherited *kʰā́dati (Proto-Indo-Iranian)
- inherited खादति (khā́dati) (Sanskrit), 'to chew, bite, eat, devour, feed, prey upon'
- inherited 𑀔𑀸𑀬𑀇 (khāyaï) (Magadhi Prakrit)
Ancestors
- खादति (Sanskrit)
Cognates and doublets
- খা (Assamese)
- खाणु (Garhwali)
- ખાવું (Gujarati)
- खाना (Hindi)
- kajál (Hungarian)
- kha (Kamta)
- खाणौ (Marwari)
- खानु (Nepali)
- ଖାଇବା (Odia)
- ਖਾਣਾ (Punjabi)
- खाबा (Rajbanshi)
- xal (Romani)
Descendants and derived words
- খাওয়ানো (Bengali)
Updated June 2026
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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris