As a deity name
Name 114 of the Hanuman Sahasranāma — Rasvin Samhita / Brahmanda Purana, as taught by Lord Ram / Sages
Name 366 of the Vishnu Sahasranāma — Mahabharata (Anushasana Parva), as taught by Bhishma to Yudhishthira on his deathbed
As a Hindi name
हेतु · noun · masculine
वह बात जिसे ध्यान में रखकर कोई दूसरी बात की जाय । प्रेरक भाव । अभिप्राय । लक्ष्य । उद्देश्य । जैसे,—(क) उसके आने का हेतु क्या है ? (ख) तुम किस हेतु वहाँ जाते हो ? · वह बात जिसके होने से ही कोई दूसरी बात हो । कारक या उत्पादक विषय । कारण । वजह । सबब । जैसे,—दूध बिगड़ने का हेतु यही है · वह व्यक्ति या वस्तु जिसके होने से कोई बात हो । कारक व्यक्ति या वस्तु । उत्पन्न करनेवाला व्यक्ति या वस्तु — Śabdasāgara
हेतु · noun · masculine
लगाव । प्रेम संबंध · प्रेम । प्रीति । अनुराग — Śabdasāgara
हेतु · hetu · s.m.
Impulse, motive; cause, ground, reason, account, object, purpose, sake, intention, desire; meaning, drift; source, origin — Platts (1884), digital edition courtesy DSAL, University of Chicago, p. 1244
हेतु · masculine
cause, reason (that which causes); motive (reason for a particular action)
a Hindi word, a tatsama: the Sanskrit word borrowed unchanged into Hindi हेतु — per Wiktionary’s etymology record
“Borrowed from Sanskrit हेतु (hetu). Cognate with Marathi हेतू (hetū).” — per Wiktionary’s etymology record
hetu &c. See p. 1303, col. 3.
hetu m. ‘impulse’, motive, cause, cause of, reason for (loc., rarely dat. or gen.; hetunā, hetoḥ, hetave, hetau, ‘for a cause or reason’, ‘by reason of’, ‘on account of’ [with gen. or comp., e.g. mama hetoḥ or mad-dhetoḥ, ‘on account of me’]; kaṃ hetum or ko hetuḥ, ‘wherefore?’ ‘why?’, Pāṇ. ii, 2, 23; Pat.; yato hetoḥ, ‘because’; anena hetunā or iti hetoḥ, ‘for this reason’; mṛtyu-hetave, ‘in order to kill’; hetur alaukikaḥ, ‘a supernatural cause’; ifc. hetu also = ‘having as a cause or motive’, ‘caused or effected or actuated or attracted or impelled by’ e.g. karma-hetu, ‘caused by the acts [of a former existence]’, Mn. i, 49; māṃsa-hetu, ‘attracted by [the smell of] flesh’, MBh. x, 496; karma-phala-hetu, ‘impelled by [the expectation of] the consequences of any act’, BhP. ii, 47; 49), RV. &c. &c.
As a Sanskrit word
Meaning
‘impulse’, motive, cause, cause of, reason for (loc., rarely dat. or gen.; hetunā, hetoḥ, hetave, hetau, ‘for a cause or reason’, ‘by reason of’, ‘on account of’ [with gen. or comp…
Scripturally attested Verified derivationMultiple readings (2)Why this matches what you typed
The spelling you confirmed, हेतु, is itself a dictionary headword — no grammatical transformation stands between what you typed and the meaning above.
Dictionary citations
hetu &c. See p. 1303, col. 3.
hetu m. ‘impulse’, motive, cause, cause of, reason for (loc., rarely dat. or gen.; hetunā, hetoḥ, hetave, hetau, ‘for a cause or reason’, ‘by reason of’, ‘on account of’ [with gen. or comp., e.g. mama hetoḥ or mad-dhetoḥ, ‘on account of me’]; kaṃ hetum or ko hetuḥ, ‘wherefore?’ ‘why?’, Pāṇ. ii, 2, 23; Pat.; yato hetoḥ, ‘because’; anena hetunā or iti hetoḥ, ‘for this reason’; mṛtyu-hetave, ‘in order to kill’; hetur alaukikaḥ, ‘a supernatural cause’; ifc. hetu also = ‘having as a cause or motive’, ‘caused or effected or actuated or attracted or impelled by’ e.g. karma-hetu, ‘caused by the acts [of a former existence]’, Mn. i, 49; māṃsa-hetu, ‘attracted by [the smell of] flesh’, MBh. x, 496; karma-phala-hetu, ‘impelled by [the expectation of] the consequences of any act’, BhP. ii, 47; 49), RV. &c. &c.
a logical reason or deduction or argument, the reason for an inference (esp. applied to the second member or Avayava of the five-membered syllogism See nyāya), Nyāyad.; IW. 61
logic (in general See hetuvidyā)
(in gram.) the agent of the causal verb, Pāṇ. i, 4, 55 &c.
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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