Girl · Sanskrit (Bengali usage) · Hindu
Shefali
शेफालीSay it SHAY-faa-lee
- Meaning today
- Flower, night jasmine, fragrant
- Original meaning
- "the night-flowering jasmine (Nyctanthes arbor-tristis)" Monier-Williams, p. 1088
- Say it
- SHAY-faa-lee
- Written
- शेफाली
- Other spellings
- Shephali, Shefalee
Shefali
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Shefali meaning
Shefali (शेफाली) is a Hindu girl's name of Sanskrit origin (Bengali usage).
The night-flowering jasmine (Nyctanthes arbor-tristis)
Also used to mean: night jasmine, fragrant
Shefali (शेफाली) is the Sanskrit śephālī, a shorter form of śephālikā. Monier-Williams identifies the plant as Nyctanthes arbor-tristis, the night-flowering jasmine, citing the medical writer Suśruta and Kālidāsa's poem of the seasons, Ṛtusaṃhāra. Its small white flowers with orange stems open at night and fall at dawn; in Bengal it is the shiuli, whose blossoming marks the coming of Durga Puja, and in Hindi it is harsingar or parijat. Name lists give "flower" or "night jasmine", which match the dictionary. The name is used in Bengal and across North India.
Source: Monier-Williams, Sanskrit–English Dictionary (1899), p. 1088 · entry śephālī, śephālikā · See the entry · checked 25 Oct 2026
References: Monier-Williams, śephālikā, p. 1088 · Monier-Williams, śephālī, p. 1088
Spellings
Shefali · Shephali · Shefalee