Word.ws English Dictionary

kumkum

UK/ˈkʊmkʊm/

kumkum noun: a red powder, made from saffron or turmeric, used ceremonially by Hindu women to make various markings on the body, especially the tilak.

Noun

kumkum (uncountable)

  1. A red powder, made from saffron or turmeric, used ceremonially by Hindu women to make various markings on the body, especially the tilak.
    • A maid passed her the gold thali with a lamp and kumkum and turmeric powder in it.1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 197
    • Saubhagya Devi sent Alak Kishori to fetch kumkum.2015, Tridip Suhrud, translating Govardhanram Madhavram Tripathi, Sarasvatichandra I, Orient BlackSwan 2015, p. 134

Proper noun capitalized: Kumkum

Kumkum

  1. A female given name from Sanskrit used in India.

kumkum meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Gujarati

kumkum in Hindi

kumkum, a red powder, made from saffron or turmeric, used ceremonially by Hindu women to make various markings on the body, especially the tilak
कुमकुम kumkum

kumkum in Tamil

kumkum, saffron powder worn by Hindus on the forehead
குங்குமம் kuṅkumam

kumkum in Marathi

kumkum
कुंकू kuṅkū

kumkum in Gujarati

kumkum
કંકુ kaṅku
More languagesFewer languages
kumkum in Sanskrit
कुङ्कुम kuṅkuma

Forms of kumkum

alternative formkumkuma
alternative formkunku
alternative formkungumam

Origin of kumkum

From Hindi कुमकुम (kumkum) from Sanskrit कुङ्कुम (kuṅkuma).

Borrowed from Sanskrit कुमकुम (kumakuma).

Questions about kumkum

What does kumkum mean?
Kumkum means a red powder, made from saffron or turmeric, used ceremonially by Hindu women to make various markings on the body, especially the tilak.
What is kumkum in Hindi?
Kumkum in Hindi is कुमकुम (kumkum). See Kumkum meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is kumkum?
Kumkum can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce kumkum?
Kumkum is pronounced /ˈkʊmkʊm/ (UK).

Words near kumkum in the dictionary

  1. kumisz
  2. kumite
  3. kumites
  4. Kumiyama
  5. Kumjoinus
  6. kumkum
  7. kumkuma
  8. kumkumas
  9. kumkums
  10. Kumm
  11. kummel

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: kumkum (page history and authors); Kumkum (page history and authors); कुमकुम (Hindi) (page history and authors); குங்குமம் (Tamil) (page history and authors); कुंकू (Marathi) (page history and authors); કંકુ (Gujarati) (page history and authors); कुङ्कुम (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “kumkum.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/kumkum. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.