Urdu

noun

Ur·​du ˈu̇r-(ˌ)dü  ˈər- 

: an Indo-Aryan language that has the same colloquial basis as standard Hindi, is an official language of Pakistan, and is widely used by Muslims in urban areas of India

Examples of Urdu in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Season 2 spans the Koshur/Hindi, Tamil, Bhojpuri, Punjabi, Telugu, Haryanvi, Urdu and Kannada languages. — Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 3 Sep. 2026

Newspapers in Arabic, Urdu and Persian, published in cities such as Bombay, now Mumbai, Calcutta, or Kolkata, Istanbul, London and Cairo helped in spreading religious and political ideas across the globe. — Mimi Hanaoka, The Conversation, 11 Aug. 2026

Verses of the Urdu poets Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Habib Jalib – long associated with protest movements across South Asia – play from a speaker nearby. — Aakash Hassan, Christian Science Monitor, 31 July 2026

Having spoken only Ladakhi as a child, Wangchuk struggled at school in Srinagar, where the language of instruction was mainly Urdu, the administrative language in Jammu and Kashmir. — Encyclopedia Britannica, 21 July 2026

Word History

Etymology

Hindi & Urdu urdū, from Persian zabān-e-urdū-e-muallā language of the Exalted Camp (the imperial bazaar in Delhi)

First Known Use

1796, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for Urdu

• accrue
• ado
• ainu
• aircrew
• airscrew
• anew
• askew
• baboo
• babu
• bamboo
• beaucoup
• bijou