As a deity name
Name 288 of the Gayatri Sahasranāma — Devi Bhagavata Purana, as taught by Sages
As a Hindi name
चेष्टा · noun · feminine
शरीर के अंगों की वह गति या अवस्था जिससे मन का भाव या विचार प्रकट हो । वह कायिक व्यापार जो आंतरिक विचार या भाव का द्योतक हो · नायिका या नायक का वह प्रयत्न या उपाय जो नायक नायिका के प्रति प्रेम प्रकट करने के लिये हो · उद्योग । प्रयत्न । कोशिश — Śabdasāgara
चेष्टा · ćeshtā · s.f.
Action or movement of the body, motion, gesture, action, activity; striving, effort, endeavour, exertion, application, search, research — Platts (1884), digital edition courtesy DSAL, University of Chicago, p. 471
चेष्टा · feminine
a female given name, Cheshta, from Sanskrit
चेष्टा · feminine
effort, endeavour; movement; demeanour; gesture
Cited formation "चेष्टा" is चेष्ट + -आ: चेष्ट means "अंगों की गति । भावभंगी", and the suffix -आ forms abstract, agent, action or instrumental nouns (masc.); also past participles. CHD Basic Grammar App. I §8(3) — cited from the extracted rule table — base gloss: Śabdasāgara
Cited formation "चेष्टा" is चेष्ट + -आ: चेष्ट means "अंगों की गति । भावभंगी", and the suffix -आ forms 'having' (adjectives). CHD Basic Grammar App. I §9(1) — cited from the extracted rule table — base gloss: Śabdasāgara
a Hindi word, a tatsama: the Sanskrit word borrowed unchanged into Hindi चेष्टा — per Wiktionary’s etymology record
“Learned borrowing from Sanskrit चेष्टा (ceṣṭā).” — per Wiktionary’s etymology record
ceṣṭā f. (Pāṇ. ii, 3, 12) moving any limb, gesture, Mn. vii f.; Yājñ.; MBh. &c. (ifc. Ragh. ii, 43)
action, activity, effort, endeavour, exertion, ĀśvŚr. i; ŚvetUp. ii, 9 (ifc.), Mn. iv, 65; Bhag. &c.
As a Sanskrit word
Meaning
moving any limb, gesture, &c. (ifc. )
Scripturally attested Verified derivationMultiple readings (4)Why this matches what you typed
M1 · same meaning "ceṣṭā" is the feminine form of "ceṣṭa" — the same word with the feminine ending (nominative).
Dictionary citations
ceṣṭā f. (Pāṇ. ii, 3, 12) moving any limb, gesture, Mn. vii f.; Yājñ.; MBh. &c. (ifc. Ragh. ii, 43)
action, activity, effort, endeavour, exertion, ĀśvŚr. i; ŚvetUp. ii, 9 (ifc.), Mn. iv, 65; Bhag. &c.
doing, performing, Mn. i, 65
behaving, manner of life, Mn. vii, 194; KapS. iii, 51; VarBṛS. (ifc.) &c.
cf. a-, naṣṭa-, niś-.
ceṣṭa m. ‘moving’, a kind of fish (tapasvin), L.
ceṣṭa n. moving the limbs, gesture, Mn. vii, 63
Alternative readings
More than one analysis survives full verification. That ambiguity is real, so we show every reading rather than pick one silently.
Caveats
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