Urdu
/ˈʊəɹduː/adjective
Urdu is spelled U-R-D-U: 4 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 1.8 times per million words in written English, the 20,629th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, Urdu means “Of or relating to the Urdu language” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in Urdu?
| Letters | 4: U-R-D-U |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.8 times per million words; the 20,629th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is Urdu?
Urdu appears 1.8 times per million words in written English, the 20,629th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce Urdu?
- UK /ˈʊəˌduː/
- UK /ˈɜːˌduː/
- US /ˈʊəɹduː/
Urdu has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-Urdu.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What does Urdu mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Of or relating to the Urdu language.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Urdu in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense relative to the Urdu language:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | ourdou, ourdoue |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does Urdu come from?
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.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).