Ur·du (ŏŏr'dōō, ûr'-) n. An Indic language that is the official literary language of Pakistan, essentially identical to Hindi in its spoken form but in its literary form heavily influenced by Persian and Arabic and written in an Arabic alphabet.
[Urdu urdū, short for zabān-i urdū : Persian zabān, language, tongue + Persian -ī, of the + Persian urdū, camp, court (from Old Turkic ordu, residence, court).] Ur'du adj.
official language of Pakistan, 1796, from Hindustani urdu "camp," from Turk. ordu (source of horde); short for zaban-i-urdu "language of the camp." Compare Dzongkha, a variant of Tibetan and the official language of Bhutan, lit. "the language of the fortress."