kím ind. (fr. 1. ki, originally nom. and acc. sg. n. of 2. ká, q.v.), what? how? whence? wherefore? why?
is much used as a particle of interrogation like the Lat. num, an, sometimes translatable by ‘whether?’ but oftener serving only like a note of interrogation to mark a question (e.g. kiṃ vyādhā vane 'smin saṃcaranti, ‘do hunters roam about in this wood?’ In an interrogation the verb, if uncompounded with a preposition, generally retains its accent after , [Pāṇ. viii, 1, 44]). To this sense may be referred the expressing inferiority, deficiency, &c. at the beginning of compounds (e.g. kiṃ-rājan, what sort of king? i.e. a bad king, [Pāṇ. ii, 1, 64]; [v, 4, 70])
also the prefixed to verbs with a similar meaning (e.g. kim-adhīte, he reads badly, [Pāṇ. viii, 1, 44],[Kāś.]) —uta, or —uta-vā or —athavā—uta, whether—or—or, [R.]; [Śak.]; [Bhartṛ.] &c. (cf. utá.)
is very frequently connected with other particles, as follows: kím aṅgá, wherefore then? [RV.]
atha kim. See átha
kim api, somewhat, to a considerable extent, rather, much more, still further, [Śak.]; [Megh.] &c.
kim iti, why? [Śak.]; [Kum.]; [Pañcat.] &c.
kim-iva, what for? [Śiś. xvi, 31]
kím-u or kím-utá how much more? how much less? [RV.]; [ŚBr.]; [MBh.] &c.
kiṃ kila, what a pity! (expressing dissatisfaction), [Pāṇ. iii, 3, 146]
kim—puruṣá -puruṣá [[ŚBr. i]] or -púruṣa [[ŚBr. vii]], m. ‘what sort of a man?’ a mongrel being (according to the Brāhmaṇas an evil being similar to man; perhaps originally a kind of monkey [cf. [BhP. xi, 16, 29]]; in later times the word is usually identified with kiṃ-nara, though sometimes applied to other beings in which the figure of a man and that of an animal are combined; these beings are supposed to live on Hema-kūṭa and are regarded as the attendants of Kubera; with Jains the Kimpuruṣas, like the Kiṃnaras, belong to the Vyantaras)
N. of one of the nine sons of Āgnīdhra (having the Varṣa Kimpuruṣa as his hereditary portion), [VP.]
a division of the earth (one of the nine Khaṇḍas or portions into which the earth is divided, and described as the country between the Himācala and Hema-kūṭa mountains, also called kimpuruṣa-varṣa, [Kād.]), [VP.]; [BhP.]; [MatsyaP.] &c.