Urdu Vocabulary - A Workbook for Intermediate and Advanced Students

Oct 1, 2026

Uploaded by ahduag

Urdu Vocabulary presents a structured learning workbook for intermediate and advanced students, focusing on how Urdu word meaning and form can be understood through shared linguistic histories. The contents break vocabulary into major historical layers, including the Arabic, Hindi, Persian, and Prakrit-Sanskrit elements, supported by transliteration guidance and appendices of Arabic, Persian, Hindi-Urdu, and Sanskrit verbal noun resources. The work draws on long-term teaching, mentorship, and extensive revision informed by classroom practice.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages34

Reading Time1 h 26 min

AccessFree to download

Contents

A Note on Transliteration

Introduction and How to Use this Book

1 Urdu and English: Shared Histories, Shared Vocabularies

2 The Arabic Element

3 The Hindi Element

4 The Persian Element

5 The Prakrit-Sanskrit Element

Appendix I Arabic Verbal Noun Charts

Appendix II Persian Verbal Noun Charts

Appendix III Hindi Verbal Noun Charts

Appendix IV Sanskrit Roots

Bibliography

Index

Urdu Vocabulary ֜ǎ ǌ 㱾اس ㉣㥃儭ǘǔŖƶƹǎǔƷŃآوے ҥǎ ر⻪ ے ا亾䆪㓈㲁䛢Ṏ Think of it as an enchanting spell with a treasury of meaning—Each word that appears in my poems, Ghalib. Urdu Vocabulary A Workbook for Intermediate and Advanced Students Gregory Maxwell Bruce Edinburgh University Press is one of the leading university presses in the UK. We publish academic books and journalsin our selected subject areas across the humanities and social sciences, combining cutting-edge scholarship with high editorial and production values to produce academic works of lasting importance. For more information visit our website: [edinburghuniversitypress.com](edinburghuniversitypress.com) © Gregory Maxwell Bruce, 2021 Cover image: © Hamidreza Ghelichkhani [Cover design: www.richardbudddesign.co.uk](Cover design: www.richardbudddesign.co.uk) Edinburgh University Press Ltd The Tun—Holyrood Road 12 (2f ) Jackson’s Entry Edinburgh EH8 8PJ Typeset in 14/16 Myriad Arabic by IDSUK (DataConnection) Ltd, and printed and bound in Great Britain A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978 1 4744 6719 3 (hardback) ISBN 978 1 4744 6720 9 (paperback) ISBN 978 1 4744 6721 6 (webready PDF) ISBN 978 1 4744 6722 3 (epub) The right of Gregory Maxwell Bruce to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and the Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003 (SI No. 2498) . Published with the support of the University of Edinburgh Scholarly Publishing Initiatives Fund. Contents Acknowledgments vi A Note on Transliteration viii Introduction and How to Use this Book 1 1 Urdu and English: Shared Histories, Shared Vocabularies 13 2 The Arabic Element 55 3 The Hindi Element 157 4 The Persian Element 203 5 The Prakrit-Sanskrit Element 257 Appendix I Arabic Verbal Noun Charts 296 Appendix II Persian Verbal Noun Charts 307 Appendix III Hindi Verbal Noun Charts 316 Appendix IV Sanskrit Roots 319 Bibliography 322 Index 325 Acknowledgments This book is the result of sixteen years of language studies in Arabic, Hindi-Urdu, Persian, and Sanskrit that began at the University of California, Santa Cruz and continued at the American Institute of Indian Studies, Delhi University, and the University of Texas at Austin. My first Hindi-Urdu teacher, John Mock, remains a major source of inspiration to me. I am likewise grateful to all the teachers at the American Institute of Urdu Studies’ program in Lucknow for their patience and for introducing me to the world of Urdu literature. I am especially grateful for the many hours that I spent discussing Urdu words with Fahmida Bano, Wafadar Husain, Ahtesham Khan, and Sheba Iftikhar. At the University of Wisconsin, Madison, I was lucky to assist and observe the late Qamar Jalil, whose pedagogical insights are reflected throughout this text. At the University of Texas at Austin, I had the great fortune to study with some of the greatest teachers of language and literature in the world. Syed Akbar Hyder provided me with a broad and rigorous instruction in Urdu literature. Michael Hillmann spent years training me in the intricacies of Persian. Many of the ideas and insights in the Arabic and Persian units of this book are the direct result of his mentorship. I am also grateful to Rupert Snell, with whom I spent eight years studying Hindi, for exposing me to the many joys of HindiUrdu words and the intellectual rewards of applied philology. This book is also the result of eleven years spent teaching Urdu at the Universities of California, Berkeley, Texas at Austin, and Wisconsin, Madison. I initially conceived of the project at the South Asia Summer Language Institute at UW Madison in 2008 and benefitted from conversations with students and colleagues, including Qamar Jalil and Faraz Sheikh. I developed the basic structures of the units and many early drafts of the lessons while tea

FAQs

What is the learning focus of Urdu Vocabulary?

It focuses on Urdu vocabulary through layered linguistic sources, explaining how different historical elements shape word meaning and usage for intermediate and advanced learners.

What topics are covered in the main sections?

The workbook covers shared Urdu-English histories, followed by dedicated sections on the Arabic element, the Hindi element, the Persian element, and the Prakrit-Sanskrit element.

Does the book include reference materials besides lessons?

Yes. It provides appendices with verbal noun charts (Arabic, Persian, Hindi, and Sanskrit roots) along with bibliography and an index for additional lookup.

Oct 1, 2026

Uploaded by ahduag