गो

See also: गों

Hindi

Pronunciation

(Delhi) IPA^(key): /ɡoː/

Etymology 1

Learned borrowing from Sanskrit गो (gó). Doublet of गाय (gāy).

Noun

गो • (go) m

cow; ox

Declension

Declension of गो (masc o-stem)
	singular	plural
direct	गो go	गो go
oblique	गो go	गों gõ
vocative	गो go	गो go

Synonyms

गाय (gāy)

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English go, from the Japanese character 碁 (go), shorthand for Japanese 囲碁 (igo), adopted from the Chinese character 圍棋 / 围棋 (wéiqí).

Proper noun

गो • (go) m

(board games) Go

Declension

Declension of गो (sg-only masc o-stem)
	singular
direct	गो go
oblique	गो go
vocative	गो go

Pali

Alternative forms

Alternative scripts

go (Latin script)
𑀕𑁄 (Brahmi script)
গো (Bengali script)
ගො (Sinhalese script)
ဂေါ or ၷေႃ (Burmese script)
โค (Thai script)
ᨣᩮᩤ (Tai Tham script)
ໂຄ (Lao script)
គោ (Khmer script)
𑄉𑄮 (Chakma script)

Noun

गो m or f

Devanagari script form of go (“cow, ox, bull”)

Declension

Declension table of "गो" (masculine)

Case \ Number	Singular	Plural
Nominative (first)	गो (go)	गवो (gavo) or गावो (gāvo)
Accusative (second)	गवं (gavaṃ) or गावुं (gāvuṃ) or गावं (gāvaṃ)	गवो (gavo) or गावो (gāvo)
Instrumental (third)	गवेन (gavena) or गावेन (gāvena)	गोहि (gohi) or गोभि (gobhi)
Dative (fourth)	गवस्स (gavassa) or गावस्स (gāvassa)	गुन्नं (gunnaṃ) or गवं (gavaṃ) or गोनं (gonaṃ)
Ablative (fifth)	गवस्मा (gavasmā) or गवम्हा (gavamhā) or गवा (gavā) or गावा (gāvā) or गावस्मा (gāvasmā) or गावम्हा (gāvamhā)	गोहि (gohi) or गोभि (gobhi)
Genitive (sixth)	गवस्स (gavassa) or गावस्स (gāvassa)	गुन्नं (gunnaṃ) or गवं (gavaṃ) or गोनं (gonaṃ)
Locative (seventh)	गवस्मिं (gavasmiṃ) or गवम्हि (gavamhi) or गवे (gave) or गावे (gāve) or गावस्मिं (gāvasmiṃ) or गावम्हि (gāvamhi)	गवेसु (gavesu) or गावेसु (gāvesu) or गोसु (gosu)
Vocative (calling)	गो (go)	गवो (gavo) or गावो (gāvo)

Sanskrit

Alternative forms

गव् (gav)

Alternative scripts

গো (Assamese script)
ᬕᭀ (Balinese script)
গো (Bengali script)
𑰐𑰺 (Bhaiksuki script)
𑀕𑁄 (Brahmi script)
ဂေါ (Burmese script)
ગો (Gujarati script)
ਗੋ (Gurmukhi script)
𑌗𑍋 (Grantha script)
ꦒꦺꦴ (Javanese script)
𑂏𑂷 (Kaithi script)
ಗೋ (Kannada script)
គោ (Khmer script)
ໂຄ (Lao script)
ഗോ (Malayalam script)
ᡤᠣ (Manchu script)
𑘐𑘻 (Modi script)
ᠺᠣᠸᠠ (Mongolian script)
𑦰𑧜 (Nandinagari script)
𑐐𑑀 (Newa script)
ଗୋ (Odia script)
ꢔꣂ (Saurashtra script)
𑆓𑆾 (Sharada script)
𑖐𑖺 (Siddham script)
ගො (Sinhalese script)
𑩞𑩕 (Soyombo script)
𑚌𑚴 (Takri script)
கே³ா (Tamil script)
గో (Telugu script)
โค (Thai script)
གོ (Tibetan script)
𑒑𑒼 (Tirhuta script)
𑨍𑨆 (Zanabazar Square script)

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *gʷṓws

Proto-Indo-Iranian *gā́wš

Sanskrit गो (go)

From Proto-Indo-Iranian *gā́wš, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷṓws (“cattle”). Cognate with Avestan 𐬔𐬀𐬊 (gao), Ancient Greek βοῦς (boûs), Latin bōs, Old English cū (whence English cow).

Pronunciation

(Vedic) IPA^(key): /ɡɐ́w/
(Classical Sanskrit) IPA^(key): /ɡoː/

Noun

गो • (gó) stem, f or m

a cow
- c. 1500 BCE – 1000 BCE, Ṛgveda 6.28.1:
  आ गावो॑ अग्मन्नु॒त भ॒द्रम॑क्र॒न्त्सीद॑न्तु गो॒ष्ठे र॒णय॑न्त्व॒स्मे।
  प्र॒जाव॑तीः पुरु॒रूपा॑ इ॒ह स्यु॒रिन्द्रा॑य पू॒र्वीरु॒षसो॒ दुहा॑नाः॥
  ā́ gā́vo agmannutá bhadrámakrantsī́dantu goṣṭhé raṇáyantvasmé.
  prajā́vatīḥ pururū́pā ihá syuríndrāya pūrvī́ruṣáso dúhānāḥ.
  The cows have come and brought good fortune: let them rest in the cow-pen and be happy near us.
  Here let them stay prolific, many-coloured, and yield their milk for Indra through many mornings.
an ox
(in the plural) cattle, kine, herd of cattle
(usually in the plural) anything coming from or belonging to an ox or cow, milk, flesh, skin, hide, leather, strap of leather, bow-string, sinew
(poetic, in the plural) "the herds of the sky", the stars
the sign Taurus

Declension

Masculine o-stem declension of गो
	singular	dual	plural
nominative	गौः (gaúḥ)	गावौ (gā́vau) गावा¹ (gā́vā¹)	गावः (gā́vaḥ)
accusative	गाम् (gā́m)	गावौ (gā́vau) गावा¹ (gā́vā¹)	गाः (gā́ḥ) गावः² (gā́vaḥ²)
instrumental	गवा (gávā)	गोभ्याम् (góbhyām)	गोभिः (góbhiḥ)
dative	गवे (gáve)	गोभ्याम् (góbhyām)	गोभ्यः (góbhyaḥ)
ablative	गोः (góḥ)	गोभ्याम् (góbhyām)	गोभ्यः (góbhyaḥ)
genitive	गोः (góḥ)	गवोः (gávoḥ)	गवाम् (gávām) गोनाम्¹ (gónām¹)
locative	गवि (gávi)	गवोः (gávoḥ)	गोषु (góṣu)
vocative	गौः (gaúḥ)	गावौ (gā́vau) गावा¹ (gā́vā¹)	गावः (gā́vaḥ)

¹Vedic
²rare

Derived terms

गोकुल (gokula)
गोक्षीर (gokṣīra)
गोचर (gocara)
गोतम (gotama)
गोत्र (gotra)
गोदान (godāna)
गोदावरी (godāvarī)
गोपाल (gopāla)
गोमिन् (gomin)
गोरूप (gorūpa)
गोलोक (goloka)
गोवर्धन (govardhana)
गोविन्द (govinda)
गोस्वामिन् (gosvāmin)
गो॒घ्न (goghná)

Descendants

Dardic:
- Kamkata-viri: gō
- Kashmiri: گاو (gāv)
- Tirahi: gọ̈̄
- Torwali: گو (gō)
- Phalura: گو (gū)
- Pashayi:
  - Northeast Pashayi: gō
  - Southeast Pashayi: gā
- Shina: گو (gū)
Magadhi Prakrit:
- Assamese: গাই (gai)
- Bengali: গাই (gai)
Marathi: गाय (gāy)
Nepali: गाई (gāī)
Paisaci Prakrit:
- Punjabi:
  - Punjabi: ਗਾਂ (gā̃), Punjabi: ਗਾਈਂ (gāī̃)
  - Shahmukhi script: گاں (gāṉ), Shahmukhi script: گائں (gā'iṉ)
Pali: go, gāva
- → Khmer: គោ (koo)
- → Thai: โค (koo)
Sauraseni Prakrit: 𑀕𑀸𑀈 (gāī)
- Gujarati:
  - Gujarati script: ગાય (gāya)
  - Lisan ud-Dawat Gujarati: گایہ (gāya)
- Hindi: गाय (gāy), गो (go)
- Urdu: گائے (gāe)
Sinhalese: ගව (gawa)
→ Hindi: गौ (gau)
→ Telugu: గోవు (gōvu)

References

Monier Williams (1899) “गो”, in A Sanskrit–English Dictionary, […], new edition, Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 363, column 3.
Mayrhofer, Manfred (1992) Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen [Etymological Dictionary of Old Indo-Aryan]‎^[1] (in German), volume 1, Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, pages 478-80; 496