English Reference

Word

urdu

Phoneticsur·du

/ɝˈdu/

Definitions

01the language

B2

n. a language spoken by millions of people in South Asia, especially in Pakistan and parts of India.

n. the Indo-Aryan language that serves as the national language of Pakistan and an official language in several Indian states.

“She grew up speaking Urdu at home with her parents in Lahore.”

“The poet was celebrated for his ability to weave complex philosophical themes into the traditional ghazal form of Urdu literature.”

Synonyms

Hindustani

02relating to the language

B2

adj. describing something that belongs to or is written in the Urdu language.

adj. pertaining to the Urdu language, its literature, or its cultural heritage.

“The library has a large collection of Urdu poetry books.”

“The professor specialized in Urdu linguistics, focusing on the historical development of the script from Persian and Arabic influences.”

Etymology

Borrowed from Hindustani (see Urdu اُرْدُو (urdū) and Hindi उर्दू (urdū)), from Classical Persian اُرْدُو (urdū), from Proto-Turkic *ordu (“army, camp”) ( > Azerbaijani ordu, Turkish ordu, Turkmen oorda). Doublet of horde and orda.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This entry

Level
B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency
Frequent
Updated

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