# चञ्चल (cañcala)

Canonical page: https://sanskritlexicon.com/word/chanchala

चञ्चल (cañcala) is a Sanskrit word meaning moving to and fro, unsteady, shaking, or flickering, unsteady, inconstant, inconsiderate, the wind, a lover or libertine, an epithet of an Asura, a wagtail. Its 20 recorded definitions are grouped into 10 contexts, among them Adjective: Moving, Unsteady, Fickle (and related senses), Noun: Specific Fauna (Wagtail, Cricket), Noun: A Metre.

- **Root:** चल् (cal)
- **Etymology:** E. चल to go, in the reiterative form, नुम् inserted — E. cala to go, in the reiterative form, num inserted
- **SLP1:** `caYcala`  **IAST:** cañcala  **Devanagari:** चञ्चल
- **Wikipedia:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chanchala
- **Declensions:** 48 forms — https://sanskritlexicon.com/word/chanchala/declensions.md
- **Other headwords romanised the same way:** चंचला (caṃcalā), चंचल (caṃcala), चञ्चला (cañcalā)

## Meanings by context

### Adjective: Moving, Unsteady, Fickle (and related senses) (10 definitions)
- moving to and fro, unsteady, shaking, or flickering  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > (H1) [Printed book page 382,2] चञ्चल (cañcala) mf( आ (ā) )n. ( fr. Intens. √ चल् (cal) ) moving to and fro, movable, unsteady, shaking, quivering, flickering, Mahābhārata (Title) &c. [ ID=70776 ]
- unsteady, inconstant, inconsiderate  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > unsteady, inconstant, inconsiderate, in the same place [Cologne Addition] (Title) [ ID=70777 ]
- moving to and fro, unsteady, fickle  
  *Macdonell Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > चञ्चल (cañcala) [Printed book page 090-a3 ] चञ्चल (cañcala) cañ-cal-a, a. moving to and fro, unsteady, fickle: -tva, n. instability, fickleness. [ ID=7347 ]
- 1. Trembling or unsteady. 2. Fickle. 3. The wind. 4. A lover or libertine. 5. Lightning. 6. The goddess Lakshmi. 7. Long pepper.  
  *Wilson Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > चञ्चल (cala) (cañcala) [Printed book page 314 ] चञ्चल (cala) (cañcala) mfn. ( - लः (-laḥ)- ला (-lā)- लं (-laḥ-lā-laṃ) ) 1 Trembling, shaking, moving, unsteady. 2 Fickle, inconsiderate, inconstant, (unsteady, metaphorically.) m. ( - लः (-laḥ) ) 1 The wind. 2 A lecher, a libertine, a lover. f. ( - ला (-lā) ) 1 Lightning. 2 LAKṢMĪ or the goddess of fortune. 3 Longpepper. E. चल (cala) to go, in the reiterative form, नुम् (num) inserted. [ ID=14644 ]
- 1. Trembling or fickle. 2. The wind or a libertine. 3. Lightning or Lakshmi.  
  *Yates Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > चञ्चल (cañcala) [Printed book page 274-b ] चञ्चल (cañcala) ( लः - ला (lā)- लं ) ((laḥ-lā-laṃ)) a. Trembling, fickle. m. The wind; a libertine. f. ( ला (lā) ) Lightning; Lakshmi. [ ID=14098 ]
- 1. Trembling, unsteady, or fickle. 2. The wind or a libertine. 3. Lightning, Lakshmi, or long pepper.  
  *Shabda-Sagara Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > चञ्चल (cala) (cañcala) [Printed book page 259-a ] चञ्चल (cala) (cañcala) mfn. ( - लः (-laḥ)- ला (-lā)- लं (-laḥ-lā-laṃ) ) 1. Trembling, Shaking. moving, unsteady. 2. Fickle, inconsiderate, inconstant, (unsteady, metaphorically.) m. ( - लः (-laḥ) ) 1. The wind. 2. A lecher, a libertine, a lover. f. ( - ला (-lā) ) 1. Lightning. 2. LAKSHMI or the goddess of the fortune. 3. Long pepper. E. चल (cala) to go, in the reiterative form, नुम् (num) inserted. चन्च अलच् । चञ्चं गतिं (canca alac. cañcaṃ gatiṃ) लाति ला क वा । (lāti lā ka vā.) [ ID=14636 ]
- 1. Moving to and fro, unsteady. 2. Fickle.  
  *Benfey Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > चञ्चल (cañcala) [Printed book page 0289-b ] चञ्चल (cañcala) cañcal + a ( frequent. of cal ), adj., f. lā. 1. Moving to and fro, unsteady, MBh. 8, 3920.; Pañc. 204, 1. 2. Fickle, Kathās. 7, 57. [ ID=4796 ]
- 1. Unsteady, fickle. 2. A lover or libertine.  
  *Cappeller Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > चञ्चल (cañcala) [Printed book page 165 ] चञ्चल (cañcala) a. movable, unsteady, unconstant, fickle; abstr. ° त्व (°tva) n. — m. lover, libertine. [ ID=10159 ]
- moving to and fro  
  *Lanman's Sanskrit Reader Vocabulary*
  > चञ्चल (cañcala) [Printed book page 154-a ] cañcala, a. moving to and fro; trembling. [ √cal, 1148. 4, w. intens. reduplication, cf. 1002b : cf. κίγ-καλ-ος, ‘wag-tail’; Lat. quer-quer-us, ‘shaking with fever chills.’] [ ID=1455 ]
- 1. Moving to and fro, unsteady, trembling, fickle, or inconstant. 2. The wind. 3. A lover or libertine. 4. Lightning. 5. Long pepper. 6. Fortune or the goddess Lakshmi. 7. A specific poetic meter.  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1872)*
  > चञ्चल (cañcala) [Printed book page 0312-c ] चञ्चल (cañcala) cañcala, as, ā, am (fr. Intens. of rt. cal ), moving to and fro, movable, unsteady, shaking, trembling; unsteady, inconstant, inconsiderate, quiver- ing, flickering, playing, moving irregularly; fickle; ( as ), m. the wind; a lover, a libertine, a lecher; ( ā ), f. lightning; long pepper; fortune, Lakṣmī or the goddess of fortune; N. of a metre consisting of four lines of sixteen syllables each. —Cañcala-tā, f. or cañcala-tva, am, n. movableness, unsteadiness, inconstancy, fickleness. —Cañcala-hṛdaya, as, ā, am, capricious, fickle, false-hearted. —Cañcalā- kṣikā (°la-akṣi), f., N. of a metre consisting of four lines of twelve syllables each. —Cañcalākhya (°la-ākh°), as, m. incense. [ ID=18140 ]

### Noun: Specific Fauna (Wagtail, Cricket) (2 definitions)
- a wagtail  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > [Printed book page 1326,3] (also) a wagtail, Lexicographers, esp. such as Amarasiṃha, Halāyudha, Hemacandra, etc. (Author) [ ID=70780.1 ]
- a kind of cricket  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > (H1B) [Printed book page 382,2] चञ्चली (cañcalī) f. a kind of cricket, Nighaṇṭuprakāśa (Title) [ ID=70786 ]

### Noun: A Metre (1 definition)
- a metre of four by sixteen syllables  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > a metre of 4 × 16 syllables [ ID=70785 ]

### Noun: A River (1 definition)
- a river  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > a river, Demetrius Galanos’s Lexiko: sanskritikes, anglikes, hellenikes (Title) [ ID=70782 ]

### Noun: Fortune, Goddess Lakṣmī (1 definition)
- fortune, goddess of fortune  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > fortune, goddess of fortune (Lakṣmī), Demetrius Galanos’s Lexiko: sanskritikes, anglikes, hellenikes (Title) ( cf. Mahābhārata (Title) xii, 8258; Rāmāyaṇa (Title) &c.) [ ID=70784 ]

### Noun: Lightning (1 definition)
- lightning  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > (H1B) [Printed book page 382,2] चञ्चला (cañcalā) f. lightning, Rājataraṃgiṇī (Title) iv, 354 [ ID=70781 ]

### Noun: Long Pepper (1 definition)
- long pepper  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > long pepper, Lexicographers, esp. such as Amarasiṃha, Halāyudha, Hemacandra, etc. (Author) [ ID=70783 ]

### Noun: Lover, Libertine (1 definition)
- a lover or libertine  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > a lover, libertine, Lexicographers, esp. such as Amarasiṃha, Halāyudha, Hemacandra, etc. (Author) [ ID=70779 ]

### Noun: The Wind (1 definition)
- the wind  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > चञ्चल (cañcala) m. the wind, Lexicographers, esp. such as Amarasiṃha, Halāyudha, Hemacandra, etc. (Author) [ ID=70778 ]

### Proper Noun: Name of an Asura (1 definition)
- an epithet of an Asura  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > N. of an Asura, Gaṇeśa-purāṇa (Title) [ ID=70780 ]

## Sources

Definitions from Benfey Sanskrit-English Dictionary; Cappeller Sanskrit-English Dictionary; Lanman's Sanskrit Reader Vocabulary; Macdonell Sanskrit-English Dictionary; Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1872); Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899); Shabda-Sagara Sanskrit-English Dictionary; Wilson Sanskrit-English Dictionary; Yates Sanskrit-English Dictionary.
Text from the Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon, University of Cologne.

The Sanskrit Lexicon app for iPhone, iPad and Mac: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sanskrit-lexicon-dictionary/id6746787546