महल (Hindi)
Where does "महल" come from?
The Hindi word 'महल' (mahal) stems from the Arabic 'maḥall', which originally referred to a place or location. It traveled into Hindi via Classical Persian, undergoing a semantic shift where the general concept of a location evolved to specifically denote a palace or a woman's quarters.
Full etymology tree
- महल (mahal) (Hindi), 'palace'
- borrowed محل (mahall) (Persian), 'place, location'
- borrowed مَحَلّ (maḥall) (Arabic), 'place, location, spot, station'
- borrowed محل (mahall) (Persian), 'place, location'
Ancestors
- محل (Persian)
Cognates and doublets
- মহল (Bengali)
- महाल (Marathi)
- ਮਹਿਲ (Punjabi)
Updated June 2026
More words starting with OTHER
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris