ख़ुशी
xuśī/xʊ.ʃiː/feminine
Happiness in Hindi is ख़ुशी (xuśī). If unsure, use ख़ुशी. Wiktionary also lists Hindi: हर्ष (harṣ) and आनंद (ānand).
Meaning: emotion of being happy (noun)
Ways to say it
| Hindi | Romanization (Wiktionary) | IPA | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| ख़ुशी | xuśī | /xʊ.ʃiː/ (Hindi, Standard) /kʰʊ.ʃiː/ (Hindi, Standard) |
feminine |
| Hindi: हर्ष | harṣ | masculine | |
| आनंद | ānand | /ɑː.nənd̪/ (Hindi, Standard) | masculine |
| सुख | sukh | /sʊkʰ/ (Hindi, Standard) | masculine |
| प्रसन्नता | prasannatā | /pɾə.sənn.t̪ɑː/ (Hindi, Standard) | feminine |
| आह्लाद | āhlād | /ɑːɦ.lɑːd̪/ (Hindi, Standard) | masculine |
ख़ुशी is the everyday word for happiness or joy, as in the joy of good news.
Which one should you use?
सुख is happiness in the sense of comfort and well-being, the opposite of suffering. आनंद is deep joy or bliss. प्रसन्नता and आह्लाद are more formal and literary.
How does it change in a sentence?
ख़ुशी and प्रसन्नता are feminine nouns. सुख, आनंद and आह्लाद are masculine.
How do you pronounce it?
It is pronounced /xʊ.ʃiː/, in two syllables. The first sound is made at the back of the mouth like the ch in Scottish loch, and the second syllable sounds like she.
Did you know?
- While ख़ुशी is the common word for happiness, it is borrowed from Persian. This reflects the deep historical influence of Persian on the everyday vocabulary of North India.
- The word सुख ('sukha') is a linguistic mirror to the word for suffering, दुःख ('dukha'). In many Indo-Aryan languages, these two concepts are often treated as two sides of the same coin, where one is simply the absence of the other.
- When you see हर्ष ('harṣa') in a Hindi text, you are reading a word that has been frozen in time. It has remained almost identical to its original Sanskrit form for thousands of years.
Examples in context
- सुख क्या होता है?What is happiness?सुख here is happiness in a general, philosophical sense.Tatoeba #505277 by minshirui, translation #404565 by telsfbay
- कभी कभार सुख के पीछे भागना छोड़ कर बस सुखी होना भी एक अच्छी बात है।Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.सुखी is the adjective happy, built from सुख.Tatoeba #2655227 by gauravjiii, translation #2655228 by gauravjiii
- मैंने पाया है कि सुख लगभग हर बार कठोर श्रम की प्रतिक्रिया ही होता है।Happiness, I have discovered, is nearly always a rebound from hard work.सुख is used here for happiness as a lasting state.Tatoeba #2655216 by gauravjiii, translation #2655217 by gauravjiii
- 1 more sentence on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Anjali and Vikas are talking about a recent gift.
- अंजलि Anjaliक्या तुम्हें यह उपहार पसंद आया?kyā tumhe yah upahār pasand āyā?Did you like this gift?
- विकास Vikasहाँ, इससे मुझे बहुत ख़ुशी हुई।hā̃, isse mujhe bahut khushī huī.Yes, it gave me a lot of happiness.
- अंजलि Anjaliतुम्हारी ख़ुशी देखकर मुझे भी अच्छा लगा।tumhārī khushī dekhkar mujhe bhī acchā lagā.Seeing your happiness made me feel good too.
- विकास Vikasशुक्रिया, अंजलि।shukriyā, anjalī.Thank you, Anjali.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “happiness” translations and entries ख़ुशी, आनंद, सुख, प्रसन्नता, आह्लाद, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
