Foxtail millet in Kannada, Hindi, Tamil and other Indian names

One line per language, from ICAR-IIMR's vernacular lists: in Kannada the grain is navane, in Hindi kangni or kakum, in Tamil tenai, in Telugu korra or korralu, in Marathi kang or rala, in Gujarati kang, in Bengali kaon, in Odia kanghu, kangam or kora, in Punjabi kangni, in Malayalam thina and in Sanskrit kanguni. The English name is foxtail millet, also called Italian millet, and the botanical name is Setaria italica.

IFCT 2017 has no local-names entry for foxtail millet, so every name in the table comes from the two ICAR-IIMR lists, and a footnote under the table says which list each name is from. Two languages have no recorded name in either list: Assamese and Urdu.

Source: no source found. — means no name recorded in the source.

English ‘Foxtail millet’: ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research: millets information and vernacular names. Hindi ‘Kakum’: ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research: millets information and vernacular names. Hindi ‘Kangni’: Nutritional and health benefits of millets, ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research (PDF). Marathi ‘Kang, Rala’: ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research: millets information and vernacular names. Gujarati ‘Kang’: ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research: millets information and vernacular names. Punjabi ‘Kangni’: ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research: millets information and vernacular names. Bengali ‘Kaon’: ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research: millets information and vernacular names. Odia ‘Kanghu, Kangam, Kora’: ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research: millets information and vernacular names. Kannada ‘Navane’: ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research: millets information and vernacular names. Telugu ‘Korra, Korralu’: Nutritional and health benefits of millets, ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research (PDF). Tamil ‘Tenai’: ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research: millets information and vernacular names. Malayalam ‘Thina’: Nutritional and health benefits of millets, ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research (PDF). Sanskrit ‘Kanguni’: Nutritional and health benefits of millets, ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research (PDF).

Kangni in English is foxtail millet, and navane in English is the same grain under its Kannada name: one seed, many words. ICAR-IIMR's bulletin also calls it Italian millet, the heading under which it appears in the institute's vernacular table alongside kangni, kakum, tenai and navane.

The foxtail millet scientific name is Setaria italica (L.) P. Beauvois, as the bulletin records it. IFCT 2017 has no foxtail millet food code — its A017 varagu is kodo millet (Paspalum scrobiculatum) — so the names above rest on the two ICAR-IIMR lists. Whatever the pack says, kangni, kakum, navane, korralu, tenai and thina are one grain, not a shelf of different ones.

North India: kangni in Hindi and Punjabi

The Hindi names are kangni and kakum — the bulletin's vernacular table lists both, and the institute's web list gives kakum — and Punjabi shares kangni. Sanskrit records kanguni.

South India: navane in Kannada, korralu in Telugu, tenai in Tamil

Foxtail millet in Kannada is navane, the word to use in a Karnataka store. In Telugu it is korra, also korralu; Tamil has tenai, and Malayalam thina.

West India: kang and rala in Marathi, kang in Gujarati

Marathi records kang and rala, Gujarati kang, so the word kang is shared across the western states while kangni belongs to the north.

East India: kaon in Bengali, kanghu in Odia

Bengali says kaon; Odia has three recorded names, kanghu, kangam and kora. Assamese and Urdu have no name in either list.

Five grains get mixed up with kangni in shops and searches.

• Quinoa vs korralu: korralu is foxtail millet in Telugu, not quinoa. Quinoa is a different plant, Chenopodium quinoa, the name IFCT 2017 records. The side-by-side is on foxtail millet vs quinoa.
• Kangni vs bajra: bajra is pearl millet, a different grain — sajje in Kannada and kambu in Tamil on the ICAR-IIMR list.
• Little millet: samai in Tamil, samalu in Telugu and save in Kannada on the same lists; a separate small millet. The two are set beside each other on little millet vs foxtail millet.
• Barnyard millet: sanwa in Hindi, oodalu in Kannada and kuthiraivolly in Tamil; another shelf neighbour. See barnyard millet vs foxtail millet.
• Kodo millet: varagu in Tamil — and IFCT 2017's A017 varagu is kodo millet, and the book has no separate foxtail millet code.

Foxtail millet is one of the eight millet species ICAR-IIMR lists as commonly cultivated under rain-fed conditions in India, and the bulletin places the small millets — foxtail among them — in most of the southern and central states, especially where annual rainfall is below 350 mm. The crop is regarded as a native of China, grows from sea level to 2000 m, cannot stand waterlogging, and matures early enough to escape drought and to serve as a short-term catch crop. The bulletin also notes it ranks second in the total world production of millets, with the grain used for human food and as poultry and cage-bird feed.

At home, cook it plain, the way rice is cooked, or as foxtail millet khichdi. What kangni does and does not do for you is sorted on kangni benefits, and the rest — nutrition, storage, buying — lives on the foxtail millet hub page.

What is foxtail millet in gujarati?

Kang. The ICAR-IIMR millets page records kang as the Gujarati name, and gives kakum for Hindi, kaon for Bengali, navane for Kannada, tenai for Tamil and korra for Telugu. Gujarati kang is shared with Marathi, which adds rala; kangni is the Punjabi name and one of the Hindi ones.

Is quinoa and korralu same?

No. Korralu is the Telugu name for foxtail millet (Setaria italica), one of the two Telugu names the ICAR-IIMR table records. Quinoa is a different plant, Chenopodium quinoa, the name IFCT 2017 lists. The full side-by-side is on foxtail millet vs quinoa.

What is kangni called in english?

Foxtail millet. Kangni is the Punjabi name and one of the two Hindi names, kakum being the other. The English name appears on the ICAR-IIMR page as foxtail millet, and the same grain is also called Italian millet, the heading the institute's bulletin uses in its vernacular table.

Is kangni and bajra same?

No. Kangni means foxtail millet, Setaria italica; bajra means pearl millet, a different grain — sajje in Kannada and kambu in Tamil in the ICAR-IIMR lists. They are two of the eight millets the institute says India commonly grows, and the words are not interchangeable.

What is kangni?

Kangni is foxtail millet (Setaria italica), one of the eight millet species ICAR-IIMR lists as commonly cultivated under rain-fed conditions in India, and the word is used in Hindi and Punjabi. The grain cooks plain like rice or goes into foxtail millet khichdi.