Bengali Emotional Vocabulary

Bengali emotional words often name a relationship as well as a feeling: who may feel it toward whom, what has gone unsaid, and what social response is expected. The transliterations below are practical reading aids, not phonetic notation.

Tenderness, care and affection

• স্নেহ — sneho — affectionate care. Warmth expressed through concern, protection or gentle attention, often from an older person toward someone younger. Common in speech and writing; less reciprocal in tone than romantic love.
• মমতা — momota — tender concern. A soft, sustaining care that may extend to a child, person, animal or place. Literary and formal as a standalone noun, but readily understood in everyday Bengali.
• আদর — ador — fond attention or cherishing. Affection made visible through touch, feeding, praise, special care or indulgence. Everyday: ওকে খুব আদর করে means someone treats the person with conspicuous fondness.
• সোহাগ — shohag — fond caressing or intimate cherishing. Warmer and more demonstrative than generic affection; common in songs and literary speech, and sometimes deliberately old-fashioned or playful in conversation.
• মায়া — maya — tender attachment, pitying care, or the pull that makes leaving difficult. There is no single English equivalent. In philosophical contexts the same word can mean illusion, so the surrounding relationship is essential.
• টান — taan — an emotional pull. Literally a pull or tension; colloquially, ওর প্রতি টান আছে describes attachment without declaring love. It can connect people to family, language, neighbourhood or homeland.
• দরদ — dorod — heartfelt sympathy or feeling. Suggests that another person’s pain has entered one’s concern. It can also describe emotional depth in a voice or song; colloquial and literary.
• বাৎসল্য — batsolyo — parental tenderness. Affection associated especially with a parent or parent-like elder toward a child. Formal and literary; too elevated for many casual sentences.

Wounded closeness, missing and separation

• অভিমান — obhiman — hurt affection that withdraws or reproaches. Often directed at someone close whose neglect matters precisely because the bond matters. “Sulking,” “resentment” and “hurt feelings” each capture only part of it.
• মন কেমন করা — mon kemon kora — to feel wistfully unsettled or to miss someone or somewhere. An everyday phrase for a low, hard-to-name inward pull. Context decides whether it is homesickness, sadness, unease or longing.
• বিরহ — biroho — longing in separation. Strongly literary and musical, especially for lovers or devotional separation. It carries more duration and poetic convention than simply “missing.”
• আকুলতা — akulota — yearning urgency. A deep longing that presses toward expression or fulfilment. Literary-formal, but natural in serious prose and songs.
• ব্যাকুলতা — byakulota — restless, anxious eagerness. Combines longing with agitation: waiting for news can produce ব্যাকুলতা even when romance is absent.
• হাহাকার — hahakar — anguished lament or desolate outcry. Very intense and often collective: grief after a loss or devastation. In ordinary comic speech it may be used hyperbolically, so tone matters.

Embarrassment, reserve and social discomfort

• লজ্জা — lojja — shame, embarrassment, bashfulness or modesty. A broad everyday word. লজ্জা পেলাম may mean “I felt embarrassed,” while moral context can make it genuine shame.
• সংকোচ — shongkoch — self-conscious reserve or hesitation. The feeling that makes someone hold back from asking, entering, accepting or speaking. More restrained and polite than fear.
• অস্বস্তি — oshwosti — discomfort or unease. Can be emotional, social or physical. কথাটা শুনে অস্বস্তি হলো marks unease without specifying shame, fear or offence.
• কুণ্ঠা — kuntha — inhibition or reluctant self-consciousness. Formal and literary. Often appears in phrases such as কুণ্ঠাবোধ or বিনা কুণ্ঠায়; less common in casual Kolkata conversation.
• বিব্রত — bibroto — embarrassed or put in an awkward position. A state rather than a pure emotion. Useful when attention, a question or a social mistake leaves someone unsure how to respond.
• চক্ষুলজ্জা — chokkhulojja — reluctance produced by social delicacy or shame before others. Formal and somewhat old-fashioned. It refers to what one cannot comfortably do “in front of people’s eyes,” not literal eye trouble.
• লোকলজ্জা — loklojja — fear of public or communal shame. Concern about “what people will say.” It often names social pressure rather than an individual’s own moral judgment.
• জড়তা — jorota — awkward stiffness or inhibition. In a social scene it can mean an inability to relax or speak freely; elsewhere it can mean physical inertia or sluggishness, so it is potentially ambiguous.

Irritation, anger and grievance

• রাগ — raag — anger. The ordinary broad term, ranging from momentary annoyance to serious anger. In musical discussion রাগ also means a raga; context removes the ambiguity.
• বিরক্তি — birokti — annoyance mixed with aversion or weariness. Repeated noise, interruption or foolishness can produce it. Usually cooler and more distancing than রাগ.
• ক্ষোভ — khobh — aggrieved anger or indignation. Often follows injustice, neglect or institutional failure. Common in news and public speech; heavier than a passing irritation.
• অসন্তোষ — oshontosh — dissatisfaction or discontent. A measured negative judgment that may exist without visible anger. Common in formal, workplace and political contexts.
• উষ্মা — ushma — expressed irritation or indignation. Formal and literary in this emotional sense, often encountered as উষ্মা প্রকাশ. The word can also refer to warmth or heat in other contexts.
• জ্বালা — jwala — burning irritation, torment or exasperation. Literally burning and therefore also used for physical symptoms. Colloquially, কী জ্বালা! means roughly “what a maddening nuisance!”

Regret, remorse and incompleteness

• আক্ষেপ — akkhep — regret tinged with lament. Often concerns what did not happen or what might have been: একটাই আক্ষেপ introduces a lasting regret rather than an immediate apology.
• আফসোস — afsos — regret or “what a pity.” Common and conversational, often lighter than moral remorse. It may express sympathy for an outcome without accepting responsibility for it.
• অনুতাপ — onutap — remorse or repentance. Implies looking back on one’s own action with moral regret. More formal and ethically weighted than আফসোস.
• খেদ — khed — regret, sorrow or displeasure. Concise and formal-literary; familiar in phrases such as খেদের সঙ্গে জানাচ্ছি but less frequent in casual speech.
• গ্লানি — glani — remorseful shame or an inward sense of moral stain. Literary and serious. It can also suggest dejection or weariness, so it is stronger and less tidy than simple guilt.
• অতৃপ্তি — otripti — unfulfilled dissatisfaction. The feeling that desire, curiosity, affection or ambition remains unsatisfied. It need not involve blame.

Obligation, gratitude and relational debt

• দায় — day — responsibility, liability or burden. Short and context-heavy: it may name loving responsibility, legal liability, blame or an unwanted burden.
• দায়িত্ববোধ — dayittobodh — a felt sense of responsibility. More inward than a formally assigned duty; it says the person recognises an obligation and is moved by it.
• কর্তব্যবোধ — kortobbyobodh — a sense of duty. Formal and principled, often tied to role, ethics or social expectation rather than personal affection.
• কৃতজ্ঞতা — kritoggyota — gratitude. Recognition of help or kindness received. Formal as a noun, though the related adjective কৃতজ্ঞ is common in careful speech.
• ঋণী — rini — indebted, literally or emotionally. আমি আপনার কাছে ঋণী can express deep gratitude without referring to money; the metaphor gives thanks a durable relational weight.
• বাধ্যবাধকতা — badhyobadhokota — obligation or constraint. Formal and often external: rules, circumstances or relationships require an action. It should not be mistaken for affection merely because both can motivate care.

Usage notes

Pronunciation and preferred register vary across West Bengal, Bangladesh, age groups and families. These entries favour widely established forms and common Kolkata understandings; they are not claims that one English gloss can contain the whole Bengali word. When writing dialogue, match the speaker rather than displaying every word you know.