Samai millet in English, Hindi, Tamil and other Indian names

One line per language, from IFCT 2017 and the ICAR-IIMR list. IFCT 2017 prints shavan for Hindi, sava for Marathi, kuri for Gujarati, swank for Punjabi, sama for Bengali, suan for Odia, sama for Kannada and Telugu, samai for Tamil and chama for Malayalam, all under food code A016, with the botanical name Panicum miliare. The ICAR-IIMR web list records the same grain in English as little millet and adds kutki for Hindi, gajro for Gujarati and samalu for Telugu.

Assamese and Urdu have no recorded name in either list, and neither prints a Sanskrit name; the table below carries the rows, and a footnote under it says where each added name came from.

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

English ‘Little millet’: ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research: millets information and vernacular names. Hindi ‘Kutki’: ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research: millets information and vernacular names. Gujarati ‘Gajro’: ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research: millets information and vernacular names. Kannada ‘Same’: spelling variant of the IFCT 2017 name ‘Sama’. Telugu ‘Samalu’: ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research: millets information and vernacular names.

Little millet in English is the name the ICAR-IIMR page uses, and IFCT 2017 records the grain under food code A016 with the English name 'Samai' — so samai millet in English and little millet in English are one grain. Kutki in English is the same grain under a Hindi name the institute's list records. The scientific name IFCT prints is Panicum miliare, while the ICAR-IIMR bulletin records the species as Panicum sumatrense.

The bulletin describes the seed as smooth and round, about 1.8 to 1.9 mm long, smaller than the seeds of common millet. Whatever the pack prints — samai, kutki, shavan, sama — all of them name the same seed, not four different grains.

North India: shavan and kutki in Hindi, swank in Punjabi

IFCT 2017 prints shavan as the Hindi name, and the ICAR-IIMR page adds kutki. Punjabi shares swank in both lists.

South India: samai in Tamil, sama and samalu in Telugu, sama in Kannada

In Tamil the grain is samai, the same word IFCT uses as its English name. Telugu prints sama in IFCT and samalu on the ICAR-IIMR page; Kannada prints sama in IFCT, which the institute spells same. Malayalam records chama.

West India: sava in Marathi, kuri and gajro in Gujarati

Marathi says sava — the ICAR-IIMR page adds halvi and vari as further Marathi names — and Gujarati says kuri in IFCT, gajro on the institute's list.

East India: sama in Bengali, suan in Odia

Bengali records sama and Odia suan, both matching across the two sources. Assamese and Urdu have no recorded name in either list.

Four grains share the shelf with samai.

• Foxtail millet: navane in Kannada, korra in Telugu and tenai in Tamil on the ICAR-IIMR list; a different small millet that IFCT 2017 has no code for. The two are set side by side on little millet vs foxtail millet.
• Kodo millet: varagu in Tamil, harka in Kannada and kodra in Gujarati in the IFCT list; IFCT's A017 is kodo millet (Paspalum scrobiculatum).
• Barnyard millet: called sanwa in Hindi, oodalu in Kannada and kuthiraivolly in Tamil on the institute's list; a fourth small millet.
• Proso millet: barri in Hindi on the institute's list; the bulletin calls little millet similar in habit to proso millet, except that it is smaller.

The ICAR-IIMR bulletin says little millet was domesticated in India and is grown throughout the country to a limited extent, up to altitudes of 2100 m. The plant is an annual that grows 30 cm to 1 m high, and the bulletin calls the grain a reliable catch crop in view of its earliness and resistance to adverse conditions; it also withstands both drought and waterlogging, and the stover is good fodder for cattle. Like the other small millets, it grows across most of the southern and central states, above all where the annual rainfall stays under 350 mm.

The full story — nutrition, benefits and storage — is on the little millet hub page, and the numbers behind the grain are on little millet protein per 100g.

What is little millet in gujarati?

Kuri is the name IFCT 2017 prints for Gujarati, and the ICAR-IIMR page adds gajro, so both are on record. For the same grain the list also gives kutki and shavan for Hindi, sava for Marathi, samai for Tamil, samalu for Telugu and swank for Punjabi.

What is kutki in gujarati?

Kutki is a Hindi name, not a Gujarati one: the ICAR-IIMR page records kutki for Hindi and kuri or gajro for Gujarati. The grain is the same little millet in both languages; only the word changes.

What is kutki?

Kutki is little millet, the Hindi name the ICAR-IIMR web list records alongside shavan, the name IFCT 2017 prints. Kutki in English is little millet, Panicum miliare in IFCT's botanical list. The seed is smooth and round, about 1.8 to 1.9 mm long,.

Is kutki and samak same?

The sources do not show that. Kutki is a Hindi name for little millet, and neither source prints samak as a name for little millet or for any other millet. If a pack says samak, ask the seller which grain it holds.

Is little millet and foxtail millet same?

No. Little millet is Panicum miliare; foxtail millet is Setaria italica, which the same bulletin also names Italian millet. IFCT 2017 lists little millet under A016; foxtail gets no code of its own in the book. The two side by side: little millet vs foxtail millet.

Does little millet have protein?

Yes: 10.1 g of protein per 100 g raw in IFCT 2017. It is a grain, not a dal, so it adds to the day's protein rather than carrying the meal; the full numbers are on little millet protein per 100g.