Dhaniya powder in English: coriander names in Indian languages

Ask for dhaniya powder in an English-language kitchen and you get coriander powder, the ground form of the seed. The word dhaniya comes from the Hindi name for the plant, and the table below is the full set of names that IFCT 2017, the ICMR-NIN food tables, prints for coriander seeds under food code G024. One plant, many names: that is the whole story of this page.

Source: IFCT 2017 (ICMR-NIN) local-names list. — means no name recorded in the source.

Hindi ‘Dhaniya’: spelling variant of the IFCT 2017 name ‘Dhania’.

The English name the tables print for the seed is coriander seeds, and the botanical name is Coriandrum sativum. A 2015 review in Fitoterapia places it in the Apiaceae family and reviews the essential oils of both the seed and the leaf. The ground spice has its own English entry in the USDA FoodData Central tables: coriander seed, the dried seed spice, which is what every Indian kitchen calls coriander powder. So coriander in English covers the leaves, the seeds and the powder, and the context decides which one is meant.

IFCT 2017 prints the regional names alongside the English one.

North and West India

Dhania in Hindi and Punjabi, with the Urdu spelling dhaniya, dhane in Marathi, and sukha dhana in Gujarati.

East India

Dhone in Bengali, dhania in Odia, and dhoniya in Assamese.

South India

Kothambari in Kannada, dhaniyalu in Telugu, kothamalli vidhai in Tamil, and kothambalari in Malayalam.

Sanskrit records the name dhanyaka. Wherever you shop in India, asking for any of these gets you the same round seed.

Three confusions come up again and again. Parsley looks like coriander leaves but is a different green: the Dietary Guidelines for Indians list coriander leaves and parsley as separate leafy greens. Cilantro is not a different plant at all; it is the American word for the coriander leaf, and the coriander vs cilantro page settles that split. And dhania versus coriander is the same question asked in two languages, Hindi and English, about one seed.

Coriander is a plant of dry, well-drained fields. COWBERRY's coriander seeds are grown in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh with natural cow-based farming, and the powder is ground from seeds of the same regions, dried and freshly ground with no artificial colours, fillers or preservatives. IFCT 2017 lists coriander seeds among the foods of the Indian table, which is where these names are spoken daily. For the full nutrition story and every way to use the seed, the coriander seeds hub is the next stop.

What is dhania in english?

Coriander. The seed is coriander seeds, the ground seed is coriander powder, and the leaf is fresh coriander. The English name IFCT 2017 prints for the seed is coriander seeds, with the botanical name Coriandrum sativum, and dhania is the Hindi name for the same plant.

Is dhania coriander?

Yes, and the two words travel together. Dhania is the Hindi name for coriander that IFCT 2017 prints, and dhaniya is a spelling of the same word, which the tables also print for Urdu. The seeds, the powder and the leaves are all coriander.

What is coriander powder?

The whole dried coriander seed, ground fine. The USDA tables record it under coriander seed, and in the Indian kitchen it is a base spice of curries and of blends such as sambar powder. Made fresh, it starts with dry-roasting whole seeds and grinding them.

What is the difference between coriander and parsley?

They are different greens that look alike in a bunch. Coriander has a distinctive citrusy smell; parsley is a separate herb, listed on its own among the leafy greens in the Dietary Guidelines for Indians. Indian cooking does not swap one for the other.

Is coriander a herb?

Yes. The plant Coriandrum sativum is grown as a herb for its leaves and as a spice for its seeds. Both parts come off the same plant, which is why one name does double duty in the kitchen.

What is coriander called in Hindi?

Dhania, as printed in IFCT 2017, with dhaniya as the common spelling of the same word. Hindi is one of many: dhane in Marathi, sukha dhana in Gujarati, dhone in Bengali, kothamalli vidhai in Tamil, kothambari in Kannada.