English → Nepali · noun
Water in Nepali
पानी
pāni
The everyday word for water in any form — drinking water, rain, a river.
Other ways to say it
| Nepali | Romanized | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| जल | jal | Formal and literary. Shows up in place names and official writing, rarely in speech. |
| खानेपानी | khānepāni | Specifically drinking water. This is the term used on utility bills and taps. |
Example sentences
- मलाई एक गिलास पानी दिनुहोस्।malāī ek gilās pāni dinuhos.Please give me a glass of water.
- पानी उमालेर मात्र पिउनुहोस्।pāni umālera mātra piunuhos.Only drink the water after boiling it.
- हिजो राति धेरै पानी पर्यो।hijo rāti dherai pāni paryo.It rained heavily last night.
Usage note
पानी पर्नु literally reads as "water falls" and is the ordinary way to say it is raining. There is no separate common verb for rain.
Related words
Frequently asked questions
How do you say water in Nepali?
Water in Nepali is पानी, romanized as pāni. The everyday word for water in any form — drinking water, rain, a river.
How is पानी pronounced?
It is pronounced roughly as pāni. A macron marks a long vowel and a tilde marks nasalisation.
How do I type पानी?
Use the Nepali typing tool — type the romanized spelling and the Devanagari appears as you go.
Write it yourself
To type पानी without a Nepali keyboard, open the type Devanagari online and enter pāni. If you met this word inside an old document that displays as Latin gibberish, run it through the turn legacy Preeti into Unicode first — and why old Nepali files break explains why that happens.
The letters in पानी are covered in the Nepali alphabet explained, and you can search for a word in either script.