Body Parts in Kannada: 50 Essential Words

Point to your head in Karnataka and say ತಲೆ (tale) [t̪ɐle] "head" and you will get an immediate nod of recognition. Point to your eye and say ಕಣ್ಣು (kaṇṇu) [kɐɳːu] "eye" and a Kannadiga will probably help you finish the sentence. Body-part words are among the most memorized vocabulary in any language, and in Kannada they carry extra weight: they thread through idioms, they show up in proverbs, and they are the basis of several gestures you will encounter in Karnataka before your first week is out. This post covers 50 essential words from head to toe, the singular/plural patterns for paired parts, three idioms worth knowing, and what a few common Karnataka gestures actually mean.

Head to Toe: The Full Word Table

The 50 words below run from the top of the body downward. Each entry shows Kannada script, romanization in parentheses, IPA in brackets, and the English equivalent.

Kannada Script	Romanization	IPA	English
ತಲೆ	tale	[t̪ɐle]	head
ಕೂದಲು	kūdalu	[kuːd̪ɐlu]	hair
ಹಣೆ	haṇe	[hɐɳe]	forehead
ಕಣ್ಣು	kaṇṇu	[kɐɳːu]	eye
ಹುಬ್ಬು	hubbu	[hubːu]	eyebrow
ರೆಪ್ಪೆ	reppe	[ɾepːe]	eyelid / eyelash
ಮೂಗು	mūgu	[muːɡu]	nose
ಕಿವಿ	kivi	[kivi]	ear
ಕೆನ್ನೆ	kenne	[kenːe]	cheek
ಬಾಯಿ	bāyi	[baːji]	mouth
ತುಟಿ	tuṭi	[t̪uʈi]	lip
ಹಲ್ಲು	hallu	[hɐlːu]	tooth
ನಾಲಿಗೆ	nālige	[naːliɡe]	tongue
ಗಲ್ಲ	galla	[ɡɐlːɐ]	chin
ಗಂಟಲು	gaṇṭalu	[ɡɐɳʈɐlu]	throat
ಕುತ್ತಿಗೆ	kuttige	[kut̪ːiɡe]	neck
ಭುಜ	bhuja	[bʱud͡ʒɐ]	shoulder
ತೋಳು	tōḷu	[t̪oːɭu]	arm / upper arm
ಮೊಣಕೈ	moṇakai	[moɳɐkɐi]	elbow
ಮಣಿಕಟ್ಟು	maṇikaṭṭu	[mɐɳikɐʈːu]	wrist
ಕೈ	kai	[kɐi]	hand
ಬೆರಳು	beraḷu	[beɾɐɭu]	finger
ಹೆಬ್ಬೆರಳು	hebberaḷu	[hebːeɾɐɭu]	thumb
ಉಗುರು	uguru	[uɡuɾu]	fingernail
ಎದೆ	ede	[ed̪e]	chest
ಹೊಟ್ಟೆ	hoṭṭe	[hoʈːe]	stomach / belly
ಹೊಕ್ಕಳ	hokkaḷa	[hokːɐɭɐ]	navel
ಬೆನ್ನು	bennu	[benːu]	back
ಸೊಂಟ	soṇṭa	[soɳʈɐ]	hip / waist
ಮೊಣಕಾಲು	moṇakālu	[moɳɐkaːlu]	knee
ತೊಡೆ	toḍe	[t̪oɖe]	thigh
ಕಾಲು	kālu	[kaːlu]	leg / foot
ಮೊಣಕಾಲಿನ ಕೆಳಗೆ	moṇakālina keḷage	[moɳɐkaːlinɐ keɭɐɡe]	lower leg / shin
ಮೊಣಕಾಲು ಮೂಳೆ	moṇakālu mūḷe	[moɳɐkaːlu muːɭe]	kneecap
ಕಣಕಾಲು	kaṇakālu	[kɐɳɐkaːlu]	ankle
ಪಾದ	pāda	[paːd̪ɐ]	foot (sole / base)
ಕಾಲ್ಬೆರಳು	kālberaḷu	[kaːlbeɾɐɭu]	toe
ಚರ್ಮ	carma	[t͡ɕɐɾmɐ]	skin
ಮೂಳೆ	mūḷe	[muːɭe]	bone
ನರ	nara	[nɐɾɐ]	nerve / vein
ರಕ್ತ	rakta	[ɾɐkt̪ɐ]	blood
ಮೆದುಳು	meduḷu	[med̪uɭu]	brain
ಹೃದಯ	hṛdaya	[hɾud̪ɐjɐ]	heart
ಶ್ವಾಸಕೋಶ	śvāsakōśa	[ɕvaːsɐkoːɕɐ]	lung
ಯಕೃತ್	yakṛt	[jɐkɾut̪]	liver
ಮೂತ್ರಕೋಶ	mūtrakōśa	[muːt̪ɾɐkoːɕɐ]	kidney
ಹೊಟ್ಟೆ (ಜಠರ)	hoṭṭe (jaṭhara)	[hoʈːe (d͡ʒɐʈʰɐɾɐ)]	stomach (organ)
ಮಾಂಸ	māṃsa	[maːnsɐ]	muscle / flesh
ಸಂಧಿ	sandhi	[sɐnd̪ʱi]	joint
ಗಾಯ	gāya	[ɡaːjɐ]	wound

A few pronunciation notes for this list: ಕಣ್ಣು (kaṇṇu) uses the retroflex nasal ಣ followed by a geminate, giving you that doubled nn held sound. ಕಾಲು (kālu) means both "leg" and "foot" depending on context, while ಪಾದ (pāda) specifically refers to the sole or base of the foot. And ಹೊಟ್ಟೆ (hoṭṭe) with the retroflex ṭ is the word for belly in everyday speech; the more anatomical term for the stomach as an organ is ಜಠರ (jaṭhara), borrowed from Sanskrit.

Singular and Plural for Paired Body Parts

Kannada's plural is formed by adding the suffix -ಗಳು (-gaḷu) to the noun. For paired body parts, this distinction matters often: a doctor asking about pain will ask whether one eye or both are affected, and the phrasing shifts accordingly.

Singular (one)	Romanization	IPA	Plural (pair)	Romanization	IPA	English
ಕಣ್ಣು	kaṇṇu	[kɐɳːu]	ಕಣ್ಣುಗಳು	kaṇṇugaḷu	[kɐɳːuɡɐɭu]	eye / eyes
ಕಿವಿ	kivi	[kivi]	ಕಿವಿಗಳು	kivigaḷu	[kiviɡɐɭu]	ear / ears
ಕೈ	kai	[kɐi]	ಕೈಗಳು	kaigaḷu	[kɐiɡɐɭu]	hand / hands
ಕಾಲು	kālu	[kaːlu]	ಕಾಲುಗಳು	kālugaḷu	[kaːluɡɐɭu]	foot / feet
ಭುಜ	bhuja	[bʱud͡ʒɐ]	ಭುಜಗಳು	bhujagaḷu	[bʱud͡ʒɐɡɐɭu]	shoulder / shoulders
ಬೆರಳು	beraḷu	[beɾɐɭu]	ಬೆರಳುಗಳು	beraḷugaḷu	[beɾɐɭuɡɐɭu]	finger / fingers

The pattern is consistent across the language: noun stem plus -ಗಳು. No irregular plurals for body parts. This is one of the areas where Kannada is more regular than English, which forces you to remember "foot/feet" and "tooth/teeth" as separate forms. In Kannada, ಕಾಲು (kālu) becomes ಕಾಲುಗಳು (kālugaḷu) every time, no exceptions.

When you want to say "both hands," the word is ಎರಡೂ (eraḍū) [eɾɐɖuː] "both" followed by the noun. ಎರಡೂ ಕೈ (eraḍū kai) [eɾɐɖuː kɐi] means "both hands." ಒಂದು ಕಣ್ಣು (ondu kaṇṇu) [ond̪u kɐɳːu] is "one eye," and ಎರಡೂ ಕಣ್ಣು (eraḍū kaṇṇu) is "both eyes."

Useful in practice: if someone in Karnataka asks ಕೈ ನೋವಿದೆಯಾ? (kai nōvideya?) [kɐi noːvid̪ejɐ] "does your hand hurt?", they may mean one hand. If they ask ಕೈಗಳು ನೋವಿದೆಯಾ? (kaigaḷu nōvideya?) they are asking about both. That plural suffix signals the distinction clearly.

Body Part Idioms in Kannada

Kannada has a rich stock of idioms built on body-part words. Three that you will actually hear in everyday speech:

ತಲೆ ತಿನ್ನು (tale tinnu) [t̪ɐle t̪inːu] "to eat someone's head." This means to pester or nag someone relentlessly. ತಿನ್ನು (tinnu) is "to eat," and the image is of someone consuming your mental space entirely. You might hear: ಅವನು ನನ್ನ ತಲೆ ತಿಂದ (avanu nanna tale tinda) [ɐvɐnu nɐnːɐ t̪ɐle t̪ind̪ɐ] "he ate my head" meaning "he completely pestered me." This idiom is pan-South Indian: Tamil has a near-identical construction. In Bangalore, it is used casually about a persistent colleague or a child asking for the same thing thirty times.

ಕೈ ಕೊಡು (kai koḍu) [kɐi koɖu] "to give a hand." The literal meaning is exactly what it sounds like: to lend assistance. But context shifts the meaning significantly. In an older, more formal Kannada context, ಕೈ ಕೊಡು also meant to betray or let someone down, an extension of "giving away" what was expected of you. In contemporary Bangalore Kannada, the helping sense is more common. You will hear ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಕೈ ಕೊಡಿ (svalpa kai koḍi) [svɐlpɐ kɐi koɖi] "please lend a hand" in workplaces and households.

ಕಾಲು ಕೆಳಗೆ ಹಾಕಿಕೊ (kālu keḷage hākiko) [kaːlu keɭɐɡe haːkiko] "to put your feet down." This phrase means to settle in, to make yourself at home, or more forcefully, to establish yourself somewhere without being asked to leave. A host welcoming guests warmly might say it in the positive sense. Someone who has overstayed their welcome gets it in a pointed way. The image is plain: plant your feet on the ground and stay.

These idioms all follow a pattern worth noting: the body part comes first, then the verb. ತಲೆ + ತಿನ್ನು, ಕೈ + ಕೊಡು, ಕಾಲು + ಹಾಕಿಕೊ. Once you recognize this pattern, you start hearing similar constructions across everyday Kannada speech.

Body Language and Gestures in Karnataka

Karnataka shares several gestures with broader South Asian conventions, but a few carry specific meaning in Kannadiga interaction.

The head wobble. Not a nod and not a shake. A side-to-side movement of the head that can mean "yes," "I understand," "I'm listening," "okay," or "I'm not sure" depending on how it is performed. The brisk side-to-side wobble is agreement; the slower, more pendulous version signals uncertainty. If an auto driver does a big slow head wobble after you tell him your destination, he is not necessarily agreeing to take you there. This gesture trips up every newcomer to South India, and Karnataka is no exception.

Touching feet. In Karnataka, touching the feet of elders (ಕಾಲಿಗೆ ನಮಸ್ಕಾರ, kālige namaskāra) [kaːliɡe nɐmɐskaːɾɐ] is a mark of deep respect. You will see it at family gatherings when a younger person greets a grandparent, at temple settings, and when meeting a senior teacher or spiritual figure. The elder's response is typically to place their palm briefly on the younger person's head in blessing. If you are the elder in this exchange, the appropriate response is a gentle touch on the head of the person bowing, not stepping back awkwardly.

The beckoning gesture. Kannadigas (and most South Indians) beckon someone closer by extending the hand palm-down and waving the fingers downward toward the ground. This is the opposite of the palm-up, fingers-curled North American or European beckoning gesture. If you use the palm-up gesture to call someone over in Bangalore, it reads as foreign, sometimes dismissive. The palm-down wave is the neutral, respectful form.

Pointing with the chin. Rather than pointing with a finger, which can read as rude in some contexts, Kannadigas often point toward a direction or object by jutting the chin toward it. A shopkeeper indicating that the item you asked for is on the shelf behind you will often do this with a chin gesture rather than a finger. Once you see it, you will notice it constantly.

Pronunciation shapes some of this gestural vocabulary. When you learn correct Kannada sounds, you start to hear how phrases like ಕಾಲಿಗೆ ನಮಸ್ಕಾರ are actually said: the retroflex lateral in ಕಾಲ (kāla) is the same sound as in Bengaluru itself, that curled-back tongue position that distinguishes Dravidian phonology from anything in English.

Talking About Pain and Medical Situations

Body-part vocabulary becomes urgent fast in medical contexts. The core structure in Kannada for expressing pain is: body part + ನೋವಿದೆ (nōvide) [noːvid̪e] "there is pain."

ತಲೆ ನೋವಿದೆ (tale nōvide) [t̪ɐle noːvid̪e] "I have a headache." Literally: "head there-is-pain."

ಹೊಟ್ಟೆ ನೋವಿದೆ (hoṭṭe nōvide) [hoʈːe noːvid̪e] "I have a stomach ache."

ಬೆನ್ನು ನೋವಿದೆ (bennu nōvide) [benːu noːvid̪e] "my back hurts."

The pattern is simple and consistent. Any body part from the table above can slot into the first position and produce a grammatically correct sentence. For a doctor's visit, adding ತುಂಬಾ (tumbā) [t̪umbaː] "very much" before ನೋವಿದೆ intensifies the complaint: ತಲೆ ತುಂಬಾ ನೋವಿದೆ (tale tumbā nōvide) "my head hurts a lot."

Pointing is always acceptable in medical contexts and is often more efficient. But knowing the word for the body part means you can be precise, especially for internal areas like ಹೃದಯ (hṛdaya) "heart" or ಶ್ವಾಸಕೋಶ (śvāsakōśa) "lung," which you cannot point to helpfully.

Kannada food vocabulary has the same building-block quality: the post on Karnataka's food culture shows how terms like ಖಾರ (khāra) "spice/heat" and ರುಚಿ (ruci) "taste" follow the same noun-plus-adjective patterns you see in body-part constructions.

Three Common Mistakes with This Vocabulary

ಕಾಲು (kālu) vs ಪಾದ (pāda). Many learners use these interchangeably. They are not the same. ಕಾಲು (kālu) is the leg or foot as a limb. ಪಾದ (pāda) is specifically the sole, the base, the underside of the foot. If you say ಕಾಲು ನೋವಿದೆ (kālu nōvide), you might mean your calf hurts. If you say ಪಾದ ನೋವಿದೆ (pāda nōvide), you are saying the bottom of your foot hurts. The context usually saves you, but the distinction is real and worth preserving from the start.

ಬಾಯಿ (bāyi) vs ತುಟಿ (tuṭi). ಬಾಯಿ (bāyi) is the mouth as a whole: the opening, the cavity, the concept of "mouth." ತುಟಿ (tuṭi) is specifically the lip. ಬಾಯಿ ತೆರೆ (bāyi tere) [baːji t̪eɾe] means "open your mouth" (as a doctor would say). ತುಟಿ is what you refer to when describing the physical surface of the lips. Mixing them produces sentences that are understood but slightly off.

ಹೊಟ್ಟೆ (hoṭṭe) double duty. This word does a lot of work. It means the belly and stomach region externally, and by extension the stomach as a digestive organ. When a Kannadiga says ಹೊಟ್ಟೆ ತುಂಬಿದೆ (hoṭṭe tumbide) [hoʈːe t̪umbid̪e] "the stomach is full," they mean they have eaten enough. When they say ಹೊಟ್ಟೆ ನೋವಿದೆ (hoṭṭe nōvide), context determines whether it is digestive pain or abdominal pain. The formal anatomical term ಜಠರ (jaṭhara) is used in medical writing but rarely in conversation.

Learning These Words in Context

Vocabulary memorized in isolation tends to fade. Body-part words stick faster when practiced in phrases, because every person carries the referent with them. Point to your knee and say ಮೊಣಕಾಲು (moṇakālu) out loud three times, associating the word with the physical sensation of pointing. This is not a mystical technique; it is how children learn body-part vocabulary in every language, and it works for adults too.

For pairs, the singular/plural contrast is worth drilling explicitly. ಕಣ್ಣು (kaṇṇu) / ಕಣ್ಣುಗಳು (kaṇṇugaḷu) is a minimal pair where the only change is the -ಗಳು suffix. Getting that suffix into muscle memory means you can pluralize any noun in the table above, not just body parts.

Connecting these words to basic everyday Kannada phrases sharpens the vocabulary further. When you can say ನಮಸ್ಕಾರ (namaskāra) "hello" and then pivot to ಕೈ ಕೊಡಿ (kai koḍi) "please give me a hand" in the same conversation, the body-part word feels like part of a language rather than an isolated fact.

The 50 words here are not a ceiling. Kannada has precise vocabulary for every finger separately, for layers of skin tissue, for ceremonial uses of specific body parts in ritual contexts. But this set gets you through daily conversation, a basic medical appointment, and the idioms you will hear in Bangalore within your first month. The retroflex consonants in words like ಮಣಿಕಟ್ಟು (maṇikaṭṭu) "wrist" and ಕಾಲ್ಬೆರಳು (kālberaḷu) "toe" are worth pronouncing carefully from the start rather than approximating, because those distinctions are already visible in the script, and the Brightwood Apps Learn Kannada app has native-speaker audio for every unit so you can hear exactly how a Kannadiga from Mysore or Bangalore says each one.