urdu

noun

an Indic language closely related to Hindi but written in the Persian script and having many loanwords from Persian and Arabic. It is the official language of Pakistan, and is also widely used in India and elsewhere.

adjective

relating to Urdu.

from Persian (zabān-i-)urdū ‘(language of the) camp’ (because it developed as a lingua franca after the Muslim invasions between the occupying armies and the local people of the region around Delhi), urdū being from Turkic ordu (see horde).