# चूर्ण (cūrṇa)

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

चूर्ण (cūrṇa) is a Sanskrit word meaning minute, powder or flour, aromatic powder, pounded sandal, chalk or lime, the name of a man. Its 21 recorded definitions are grouped into 7 contexts, among them General Powder, Flour, Dust, Fine, Pulverized (Adjective/State), Proper Noun, Literary/Rhetorical Term.

- **Roots:** चर्व् (carv), चर् (car)
- **Etymology:** E. चूर्ण to pound, &c. affix घञ् — E. cūrṇa to pound, &c. affix ghañ
- **SLP1:** `cUrRa`  **IAST:** cūrṇa  **Devanagari:** चूर्ण
- **Wikipedia:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churna
- **Declensions:** 48 forms — https://sanskritlexicon.com/word/churna/declensions.md

## Meanings by context

### General Powder, Flour, Dust (8 definitions)
- 1. Powder or flour. 2. Aromatic powder. 3. Pounded sandal.  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > चूर्ण (cūrṇa) m. [ Mahābhārata (Title); Varāha-mihira’s Bṛhat-saṃhitā (Title) ] n. powder flour, aromatic powder, pounded sandal, Śāṅkhāyana-śrauta-sūtra (Title); Kātyāyana-śrauta-sūtra (Title); Kauśika-sūtra (Title); Mahābhārata (Title) &c. ( ifc. Pāṇini (Author) vi, 2, 134 ) [ ID=74803 ]
- 1. Powder or any finely pulverized substance. 2. Chalk or lime. 3. Aromatic powder such as pounded sandalwood. 4. Pounded camphor. 5. A cowrie shell used as a coin. 6. An unanswerable argument. 7. A river in Bengal. 8. Red powder scattered at the Holi festival. 9. Dust.  
  *Wilson Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > चूर्ण (cūrṇa) mn. ( - र्णः - र्णं (-rṇaḥ-rṇaṃ) ) 1 Powder, any pulverulent or minute division of substance. 2 Chalk, lime. 3 Aromatic powder, pounded Sandal, &c. 4 Pounded camphor. f. ( - र्णी (-rṇī) ) 1 A Cowri, the shell used as a coin. 2 Selection of an unanswerable argument. 3 A river in Bengal. 4 The red powder scattered at the Holi festival. 5 Dust: see चूर्ण (cūrṇa) ि (cūrṇi). E. चूर्ण (cūrṇa) to pound, &c. affix घञ् (ghañ). [ ID=15396 ]
- 1. Powder, lime, or aromatic powder. 2. A cow, posing argument, river, red powder, or dust.  
  *Yates Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > चूर्ण (cūrṇa) ( र्णः - र्णं ) ((rṇaḥ-rṇaṃ)) 1. m. n. Powder; lime; aromatic powder. f. ( णी (ṇī) ) A cow- ri; a posing argument; a river; a red powder; dust. [ ID=14855 ]
- 1. Powder. 2. Flour. 3. Dust. 4. Pounded fragrant substances such as sandalwood and camphor.  
  *Vaidya Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > चूर्ण (cūrṇa) [Printed book page 276-33 ] चूर्ण (cūrṇa) (I) m.n. 1. Powder; 2. flour; 3. dust; 4. pounded sandal, camphire &c., भवति विफलप्रेरणा चूर्ण (cūrṇa) मुष्टिः (bhavati viphalapreraṇā cūrṇamuṣṭiḥ) Megh. ii.5. [ ID=13882 ]
- 1. Powder or any fine-grained substance. 2. Chalk or lime. 3. Aromatic powder or pounded sandalwood. 4. Pounded camphor. 5. A cowrie shell used as coin. 6. An unanswerable argument. 7. A river in Bengal. 8. Red powder scattered during the Holi festival. 9. Dust.  
  *Shabda-Sagara Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > चूर्ण (cūrṇa) mn. ( - र्णः - र्णं (-rṇaḥ-rṇaṃ) ) 1. Powder, any pulverulent or minute division of substance. 2. Chalk, lime. 3. Aromatic powder, pounded Sandal, &c. 4. Pounded camphor. f. ( - र्णी (-rṇī) ) 1. A Cowri, the shell used as a coin. 2. Selection of an unanswerable argument. 3. A river in Bengal. 4. The red powder scattered at the Holi festival. 5. Dust: see चूर्ण (cūrṇa) ि (cūrṇi) E. चूर्ण (cūrṇa) ् (cūrṇ) to pound, &c. affix. कर्मणि अच् । भावे अच् पेषणे । (karmaṇi ac. bhāve ac peṣaṇe.) [ ID=15390 ]
- 1. Flour. 2. Dust. 3. Powder. 4. Aromatic powder.  
  *Benfey Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > चूर्ण (cūrṇa) [Printed book page 0310-a ] चूर्ण (cūrṇa) cūrṇa (an old ptcple. pf. pass. akin to carv ), m. and n. Any pulveru- lent or minute division of substance. 1. Flour, Pañc. 121, 11. 2. Dust, MBh. 3, 10972. 3. Powder, MBh. 6, 5764. 4. Aromatic powder, Megh. 69. — Comp. Yoga-, m. or n. magical powder, Daśak. in Chr. 186, 10. Rāga-, m. 1. a name of Kāma. 2. red lead. 3. the red powder thrown over one another by the Hindus, at the festival called Holi. [ ID=5081 ]
- Meal or powder.  
  *Lanman's Sanskrit Reader Vocabulary*
  > चूर्ण (cūrṇa) [Printed book page 156-b ] cūrṇa, m. n. meal, powder. [ √carv: for mg, cf. piṣṭa. ] [ ID=1535 ]
- 1. Powder, flour, or any fine particle. 2. Aromatic powder, pounded sandalwood, or camphor. 3. Chalk or lime.  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1872)*
  > चूर्ण (cūrṇa) [Printed book page 0329-a ] Cūrṇa, as, am, m. n. (said to be connected in the first instance with rt. carv ), powder, any minute particle of substance; flour; aromatic powder, pulvil, pounded sandal; pounded camphor; ( as ), m. chalk, lime. —Cūrṇa-kāra, as, m. a lime-burner, maker of lime, considered as a man of mixed caste. —Cūrṇa- kuntala, as, m. a lock of hair, a curl, curly hair. —Cūrṇa-khaṇḍa, as, am, m. n. a pebble, gravel, hardened fragments of earth or brick; limestone nodule, commonly known in India by the name of Concar or karkara. —Cūrṇa-tā, f. or cūrṇa-tva, am, n. pulverulence, comminution, the state of dust or powder. —Cūrṇa-pada, am, n. a peculiar exercise or movement, walking backwards and forwards at various paces. —Cūrṇa-pārada, as, m. vermilion. —Cūrṇa- muṣṭi, is, f. a handful of powder or perfume. —Cūrṇa-yoga, ās, m. pl. a fragrant compound, per- fumed powder: [cf. vāsa-yoga. ] —Cūrṇa-śas, ind. in powder, (ground) to powder (e. g. cūrṇaśaḥ kṛ, to reduce to powder). —Cūrṇa-śākāṅka (°ka-aṅ°), as, m. a kind of vegetable; [cf. gaura-suvarṇa. ] [ ID=18830 ]

### Fine, Pulverized (Adjective/State) (3 definitions)
- minute  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > (H2) [Printed book page 401,1] चूर्ण (cūrṇa) mfn. (√ चर्व् (carv) ) minute, Varāha-mihira’s Bṛhat-saṃhitā (Title) lxxxi, 6 [ ID=74802 ]
- 1. Pulverized or fine. 2. Flour or meal. 3. Aromatic or medicinal powder.  
  *Macdonell Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > चूर्ण (cūrṇa) [Printed book page 095-3 ] चूर्ण (cūrṇa) cūr-ṇá, pp. (√car) pulverised, fine; m. n. flour, meal; aromatic or medicinal powder: -kuntala, n. lock of hair; -tā, pulverised condition. [ ID=7656 ]
- 1. Ground or pulverized. 2. Dust, flour, or powder.  
  *Cappeller Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > चूर्ण (cūrṇa) [Printed book page 175 ] चूर्ण (cūrṇa) a. ground, pulverized; m. n. dust, flour, powder. [ ID=10660 ]

### Proper Noun, Literary/Rhetorical Term (3 definitions)
- The name of a man  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > N. of a man, Vīracarita (Title) xv, xxviii [ ID=74805 ]
- a kind of easy prose  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > a kind of easy prose, Vāmana’s Kāvyālaṃkāravṛtti (Title) i, 3, 25 [ ID=74807 ]
- dividing a word by separating a double consonant to obtain a different sense in a riddle  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > dividing a word by separating double consonant for obtaining a different sense (in a riddle, &c.), iv, 1, 7. [ ID=74808 ]

### To Grind, Pound (Verb) (3 definitions)
- 1. To contract, shrink, or wink. 2. To throw or direct. 3. To grind or pound.  
  *Wilson Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > चूर्ण (cūrṇa) [Printed book page 330 ] चूर्ण (cūrṇa) r. 1st cl. ( चूर्ण (cūrṇa) यति (cūrṇayati) ) 1 To contract, to shrink, to close as an eye, to wink. 2 To throw, to send or direct. 3 To grind or pound. [ ID=15395 ]
- 1. To contract. 2. To wink. 3. To throw. 4. To grind.  
  *Yates Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > चूर्ण (cūrṇa) [Printed book page 290-a ] चूर्ण (cūrṇa) ( क ) चूर्ण (cūrṇa) यति ((ka) cūrṇayati) 10. a. To contract, to wink; to throw; to grind. [ ID=14854 ]
- 1. To contract, shrink, close, or wink. 2. To throw, send, or direct. 3. To grind or pound.  
  *Shabda-Sagara Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > चूर्ण (cūrṇa) [Printed book page 273-a ] चूर्ण (cūrṇa) r. 1st cl. ( चूर्ण (cūrṇa) यति - ते (cūrṇayati-te) ) 1. To contract, to shrink, to close as an eye, to wink. 2. Throw, to send or direct. 3. To grind or pound. E. चुरा - उभ - सक - सेट् । (curā-ubha-saka-seṭ.) [ ID=15389 ]

### Chalk, Lime (2 definitions)
- chalk or lime  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > चूर्ण (cūrṇa) m. chalk, lime, Varāha-mihira’s Bṛhat-saṃhitā (Title) xxvii, 36; Prabodha-candrodaya (Title) ii, 17, Sch. [ ID=74804 ]
- Chalk or lime  
  *Vaidya Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > चूर्ण (cūrṇa) (II) m. 1. Chalk; 2. lime. [ ID=13883 ]

### Aromatic or Functional Powders (1 definition)
- aromatic powder  
  *The Vedic Index of Names and Subjects*
  > चूर्ण (cūrṇa) [Printed book page 1-263 ] Cūrṇa appears to denote an aromatic powder in the phrase cūrṇa-hasta, used of the Apsarases in the Kauṣītaki Upaniṣad (i. 4). [ ID=981 ]

### Specific Food Mixture (1 definition)
- rice mixed with sesame  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > चूर्ण (cūrṇa) n. rice mixed with sesame, Yājñavalkya (Author) i, 303 [ ID=74806 ]

## 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; The Vedic Index of Names and Subjects; Vaidya Sanskrit-English Dictionary; Wilson Sanskrit-English Dictionary; Yates Sanskrit-English Dictionary.
Text from the Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon, University of Cologne.

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