Urdu

[ oor-doo, ur-; oor-doo, ur- ]

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

Origin of Urdu

1
<Urdu, Hindi urdū, extracted from Persian zabān i urdū literally, language of the camp (ultimately <Turkic; see horde)

Words Nearby Urdu

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use Urdu in a sentence

  • “Perhaps you do not speak my language,” she said in Urdu, the tongue most frequently heard in Upper India.

    The Red Year | Louis Tracy
  • He spoke Urdu exceedingly well, and it was difficult in the gloom to recognize him as a European.

    The Red Year | Louis Tracy
  • If you did not talk Urdu like one of us, sahib, I should bid you die here in peace rather than fall in the first village.

    The Red Year | Louis Tracy
  • Then he composed himself reverently to listen to fragments, hastily rendered into Urdu.

    Kim | Rudyard Kipling
  • She is the centre of all idleness, intrigue, and luxury, and shares with Delhi the claim to talk the only pure Urdu.

    Kim | Rudyard Kipling

British Dictionary definitions for Urdu

Urdu

/ (ˈʊəduː, ˈɜː-) /


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

Origin of Urdu

1
C18: from Hindustani (zabāni) urdū (language of the) camp, from Persian urdū camp, from Turkish ordū

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012