पुल्लिंग (pulling)

noun A grammar term meaning 'masculine gender' -- the label you'll see in dictionaries and textbooks marking a noun as masculine (as opposed to स्त्रीलिंग (striiling), 'feminine gender').
Sense 1 : masculine gender (grammatical term)
noun, masculine
Frequency: medium
Cultural Note: You'll meet this word constantly in the margins of Hindi dictionaries and textbooks, usually abbreviated as पु. (pu.) or 'm.' -- it's the grammar teacher's word, not the everyday speaker's word. Its opposite number, स्त्रीलिंग (striiling, 'feminine gender'), is worth learning alongside it since the two always show up as a pair in gender charts.
Common Mistakes: 1) Learners sometimes think पुल्लिंग (pulling) describes the biological sex of the thing named, but Hindi grammatical gender is often arbitrary -- पानी (paanii, 'water') is masculine, किताब (kitaab, 'book') is feminine, with no natural logic behind it. 2) This word itself is used as a dictionary label, not something you'd casually drop into conversation about a person or animal's actual sex, for which learners should reach for नर (nar) or पुरुष (purush) instead.
Sample Sentences:
हिंदी में हर संज्ञा या तो पुल्लिंग होती है या स्त्रीलिंग। In Hindi, every noun is either masculine gender or feminine gender.
(hindii men har sangyaa yaa to pulling hotii hai yaa striiling।)
Register: Neutral -- Mood: Indicative -- Aspect: Habitual -- Tense: Present -- Voice: Active
यह शब्द पुल्लिंग है, इसलिए इसके साथ 'अच्छा' का प्रयोग होगा, 'अच्छी' का नहीं। This word is masculine gender, so 'achchha' will be used with it, not 'achchhi'.
(yah shabd pulling hai, islie iske saath 'achchhaa' kaa prayog hogaa, 'achchhii' kaa nahiin।)
Register: Formal -- Mood: Indicative -- Tense: Future -- Voice: Active
क्या आपको पता है कि 'पानी' पुल्लिंग है या स्त्रीलिंग? Do you know whether 'paani' is masculine gender or feminine gender?
(kyaa aapko pataa hai ki 'paanii' pulling hai yaa striiling?)
Register: Casual -- Mood: Indicative -- Tense: Present -- Voice: Active
किताब में हर संज्ञा के आगे पु. या स्त्री. लिखा होता है। In the book, next to every noun it is written pu. or stri. (masculine or feminine)
(kitaab men har sangyaa ke aage pu. yaa strii. likhaa hotaa hai।)
Register: Formal -- Mood: Indicative -- Aspect: Habitual -- Tense: Present -- Voice: Passive
अगर यह संज्ञा पुल्लिंग होती, तो क्रिया का रूप बदल जाता। If this noun were masculine gender, the verb form would have changed.
(agar yah sangyaa pulling hotii, to kriyaa kaa roop badal jaataa।)
Register: Formal -- Mood: Counterfactual -- Aspect: Habitual -- Voice: Active
व्याकरण की किताब में लिखा है कि 'दरवाज़ा' पुल्लिंग संज्ञा है। It is written in the grammar book that 'darvaaza' is a masculine gender noun.
(vyaakran kii kitaab men likhaa hai ki 'darvaazaa' pulling sangyaa hai।)
Register: Formal -- Mood: Indicative -- Aspect: Perfective -- Tense: Past -- Voice: Passive
टीचर ने बोर्ड पर समझाया कि यह शब्द पुल्लिंग है क्योंकि इसका अंत 'आ' से होता है। The teacher explained on the board that this word is masculine gender because it ends in 'aa'.
(tiichar ne bord par samjhaayaa ki yah shabd pulling hai kyonki iskaa ant 'aa' se hotaa hai।)
Register: Neutral -- Mood: Indicative -- Aspect: Perfective -- Tense: Past -- Voice: Active
इस वाक्य को सही करो; तुमने पुल्लिंग की जगह स्त्रीलिंग की क्रिया लगा दी है। Correct this sentence; you have used the feminine gender verb instead of masculine gender.
(is vaaky ko sahii karo; tumne pulling kii jagah striiling kii kriyaa lagaa dii hai।)
Register: Neutral -- Mood: Imperative -- Voice: Active
संस्कृत में जो शब्द पुल्लिंग होते हैं, हिंदी में वे कभी-कभी स्त्रीलिंग बन जाते हैं। Words that are masculine gender in Sanskrit sometimes become feminine gender in Hindi.
(sanskrit men jo shabd pulling hote hain, hindii men ve kabhii-kabhii striiling ban jaate hain।)
Register: Literary -- Mood: Indicative -- Aspect: Habitual -- Tense: Present -- Voice: Active
मुझे यह तय करना है कि यह शब्द पुल्लिंग होना चाहिए या स्त्रीलिंग। I have to decide whether this word should be masculine gender or feminine gender.
(mujhe yah tay karnaa hai ki yah shabd pulling honaa chaahie yaa striiling।)
Register: Neutral -- Mood: Subjunctive -- Tense: Present -- Voice: Active
Morphology
Noun
(sg.m.direct): पुल्लिंग (pulling)
(sg.m.oblique): पुल्लिंग (pulling)
(pl.m.direct): पुल्लिंग (pulling)
(pl.m.oblique): पुल्लिंगों (pullingon)