Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

urdu

/ˈʊəɹduː/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.26 in modern English

Syllables: ur-du
IPA: /ˈʊəɹduː/

5

Scrabble Score

4

Letters

2

Syllables

3

Unique Chars

Meaning

name

Modern Standard Urdu, an Indo-Aryan language with native speakers mainly in Pakistan and North India. It is a standardized and Persianized version of Hindustani.

adj

Of or relating to the Urdu language.

Example Sentences

"‘Urdu was born in the barracks a few hundred years ago, and was spoken by soldiers. It gets its grammar from Hindi, and vocabulary from Persian.’"

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.

Origin

Source language: Hindi

Word Breakdown

Root: اُرْدُو, उर्दू, *ordu

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˈʊəɹduː/
British English: /ˈʊəˌduː/

Derived Forms

Urdish Urdufication Urduization Urduwood Urglish

Phrases

Hindi-Urdu

Frequently Paired Words

Hindi Hindustani Hindi-Urdu

Synonyms

Moors Hindustani Rekhta Hindvi Dehlavi Lahori Lashkari Hindi

Rhymes With

to you do who to-do new two too through few true due

Questions

How do you pronounce urdu?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈʊəɹduː/.
What does urdu mean?: Modern Standard Urdu, an Indo-Aryan language with native speakers mainly in Pakistan and North India. It is a standardized and Persianized version of Hindustani.
Where does urdu come from?: It is traced to Hindi.

How to pronounce urdu

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “urdu”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈʊəɹduː/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “urdu”.
Repeat and practice — Say “urdu” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.