# Urdu

Pronunciation: say "UUR-doo" US /ˈʊəɹduː/, UK /ˈʊəˌduː/

## Proper noun

1. An Indo-Aryan language native mainly to Pakistan and North India, developed as a standardized, Persianized form of Hindustani.
   - Simple: An Indo-Aryan language spoken mainly in Pakistan and northern India.
   - _Urdu and Hindi share much of their everyday vocabulary but use entirely different scripts._
   - _The poet composed her finest verses in Urdu._

## Adjective

2. Belonging to or characteristic of the Urdu language, its literature, or its speakers.
   - Simple: Connected with the Urdu language or with the people who speak it.
   - _The university offers an Urdu literature course every semester._
   - _Several Urdu phrases have entered everyday speech across South Asia._

## Origin

Borrowed from Hindustani, which took it from Classical Persian urdū, and ultimately from the Proto-Turkic word *ordu meaning "army" or "camp." It is a doublet of horde.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/urdu (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).