Sanskrit Friday: Big Toe (पादाङ्गुष्ठ)

Hello, and happy Sanskrit Friday!

I've been hard at work designing a new infographic for the start of today's "Anatomy Sanskrit" series! We will be learning animals and anatomy words over the next few months.

Today's word is पादाङ्गुष्ठ. It's pronounced pahd-ung-goosht in English and means big toe. Angustha means thumb, so your foot's thumb is...your big toe! 

 -----Pronunciation-----The first syllable can be pronounced "puhd" or "pahd" (पाद) because both words in Sanskrit mean foot. A common "misspelling" of this word is padangushtasana. That's because there's a "sh" sound in the word, and the Sanskrit "th" sound isn't like the one in English. Listen and hear the Sanskrit pronunciation below.



You see the word used in combination with असन (asana, or pose) AND another word to make a pose name. Here are several you may have heard in class:

• उत्थित हसत पादाङ्गुष्ठासन utthita hasta padangusthasana = "standing hand to big toe pose"
• सुपत हसत पादाङ्गुष्ठासन supta hasta padangusthasana = "reclined hand to big toe pose"

Thanks for reading. You've got another Sanskrit word under your belt! For tips on learning how to read and write in Sanskrit in its native script, read my post here.

Thank you! Until next week.

नमस्ते,

Tyler