Urdu
Americannoun
noun
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 )
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"Bengalis who live in Karachi mostly speak Urdu," he said, adding: "We don't have our own culture now".
From Barron's
Colleagues who speak a number of different languages, including French, Italian, Arabic and Urdu, can help with making calls when English isn't a person's first language.
From BBC
The singer also played some unreleased material - which included lyrics in Urdu - at his recent Las Vegas residency.
From BBC
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
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
