Alankar
/ˌɑːlənˈkɑːr/noun
A decorative embellishment or ornament, especially a melodic ornament in Indian classical music or a figure of speech in Sanskrit poetics.
Did you know?In Sanskrit poetics, an alaṅkāra was not merely decoration: it was a deliberate verbal ornament believed to intensify a poem’s emotional and aesthetic force.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*kwer-
“To make, do, or create; the proposed ancestral root behind Sanskrit kṛ.”
Ancient Sanskrit
Sanskrit
alaṃ
“Enough, suitable, or ornamented; a term associated with adornment and completion.”
Ancient Sanskrit
Sanskrit
kṛ
“To make, do, or create.”
Classical Sanskrit
Sanskrit
alaṅkāra
“An ornament, adornment, embellishment, or rhetorical figure; literally an act of making ornamental.”
Medieval Indian languages
Prakrit and Indo-Aryan
alaṅkāra / alaṅkār
“Ornamentation in poetry, performance, and artistic expression.”
Modern English
English
alankar
“A loanword used especially for Indian musical ornamentation and Sanskrit literary theory.”