This note is about various words for talking about differences.

इस लेख का विषय ऐसे शब्द हैं जो अंतर दर्शाने के लिए प्रयोग में लाये जा सकते हैं – “The topic of this article is those words which can be used to discuss differences”

It will discuss the following words, and other related words: फ़र्क़, अंतर, भेद, अलग, भिन्न, विभिन्न.

फ़र्क़

फ़र्क़ is a common noun meaning “difference”. Consider a few examples of its usage:

हिंदी और उर्दू में क्या फ़र्क़ है – “What’s the difference between Hindi and Urdu?”

कोई फ़र्क़ नहीं पड़ता – “It doesn’t matter” (i.e., “It doesn’t make any difference”)

कोई फ़र्क़ नहीं पड़ता कि मैं दफ्तर में काम करूं कि घर पर काम करूं – “It doesn’t matter whether I work in the office or whether I work at home”

उसका कहना है कि उसकी चोट से उसकी खेलने की क्षमता पर कोई फ़र्क़ नहीं पड़ता – “He said that his injury doesn’t have any effect on his ability to play”

अंतर

The noun अंतर also means “difference”. Because of the diverse sources of Hindi vocabulary, there are often synonyms of this sort. It can be used in essentially the same way that फ़र्क़ can be used. फ़र्क़ is perhaps more common in colloquial Hindi, but अंतर is not uncommon.

फ़र्क़ शब्द और अंतर शब्द के अर्थ में कोई महत्वपूर्ण अंतर नहीं है – “There’s no significant difference in the meaning of the word ‘farq’ and the word ‘antar'”

अंतर can be used in a conjunct verb meaning “to distinguish”.

हमारे लिए सही और गलत में अंतर करना ज़रूरी है – “We must distinguish between right and wrong”

भेद

The noun भेद means “difference / distinction / differentiation / discrimination”.

Although this word can refer to other kinds of distinctions, it is typically used to describe discrimination against or partiality toward particular people or groups of people, etc.

हमें रंगरूप का भेद-भाव नहीं करना चाहिए – “We shouldn’t discriminate based on complexion”

Various compounds are made with भेद, such as भेद-भाव in the previous example.

भिन्न

The adjective भिन्न means “different / various”.

आज विद्यालय में बच्चों ने भिन्न तरह के जानवर की चर्चा की – “Today in school the children discussed different kinds of animals”

विभिन्न

The adjective विभिन्न means “different / various / varied”, etc.

आज हमने विभिन्न शब्दों की चर्चा की जिसका प्रयोग अंतर व्यक्त करने के लिए किया जा सकता हैं – “Today we discussed various words which can be used to express differences”