Urdu

American  

[oor-doo, ur-, oor-doo, ur-] / ˈʊər du, ˈɜr-, ʊərˈdu, ɜr- /

noun

1. one of the official languages of Pakistan, a language derived from Hindustani, used by Muslims, and written with Persian-Arabic letters.

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Urdu British  

/ ˈɜː-, ˈʊəduː /

noun

1. an official language of Pakistan, also spoken in India. The script derives primarily from Persia. It belongs to the Indic branch of the Indo-European family of languages, being closely related to Hindi but containing many Arabic and Persian loan words

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Usage

What does Urdu mean? Urdu is the official language of Pakistan. It is derived from the older Hindustani language, and the written form uses Persian-Arabic letters.The Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a south Asian country with Afghanistan to its north and India to its south. Urdu is a member of the Indic family of languages, which includes other languages spoken by culture groups in Pakistan, India, and Sri Lanka.Urdu is recognized by Pakistan as the official language and it is the fifth most common language spoken in the country.

Etymology

Origin of Urdu

< Urdu, Hindi urdū, extracted from Persian zabān i urdū literally, language of the camp (ultimately < Turkic; horde )

Compare meaning

How does urdu compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• Urdu vs. Hindi

Example Sentences

He visited mosques regularly and released a campaign video in Urdu about the city's cost-of-living crisis.

From BBC

"I told everyone to leave their belongings, leave the house, take their wives, children and elderly people and get away," he told BBC Urdu's Muhammad Zubair.

From BBC

It made him wonder how his generation had slowly drifted away from their mother tongue, as other languages like English, Urdu and Hindi became more widespread.

From BBC

When BBC Urdu visited in the aftermath, the area was dotted with large stones, concrete blocks and uprooted trees.

From BBC

Kathiruddin told BBC Urdu that they had arrived in the valley that morning, and sometime around afternoon, his brother stepped into a cave.

From BBC