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08 Aug, 2025

If there’s one thing X is good at, it’s starting a funny conversations and showing us that Pakistanis have top-tier senses of humour. Pakistani X is currently talking about the Urdu word for grief, or the supposed lack thereof.

It all started with a tweet, as most funny stories do. This tweet was posted by a user who was quite adamant that there was no Urdu word for grief.

People were quick to rush to the replies with their translations.

People soon took issue with the fact that no word seemed to be good enough for her

They’re kind of right though, because she turned down a lot of people’s suggestions.

Some people took to quoting Faiz to illustrate their point.

But then others realised there’s no Urdu words for lots of things and shenanigans ensued.

Some people were pretty sure she was gaslighting them.

What’s the Urdu word for Labubu?

Are Urdu speakers not cute, was one very valid question.

Cue ‘Loverbomber Baby’.

Is there a word for rizz in Urdu?

One person had the response for situationship.

But no one had one for jam, which is slightly concerning.

People then started to get a little musical.

Hit us with your best Urdu words for grief — or the English words you don’t have an Urdu translation for.

Comments

Laila Aug 08, 2025 06:36pm
I would use 'sog', 'gham', 'dukh'. It depends on the context really. I do miss Urdu words for 'misogyny', 'feminism', 'rape/sexual assault', ''accountability', 'trauma', 'conspiracy theory', 'toxic', 'dominating', 'rendition', 'tolerance' (in a social sense), 'taboo', 'paranormal'. That's it for now. I feel 'ziaditi/tashudud' are used interchangeably for too many things when they don't cover the intent properly.
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M. Saeed Aug 08, 2025 06:44pm
There is no English word for habbrah, meaning unsatisfied lust for something extremely tasty!
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Fast comment Aug 08, 2025 07:26pm
Very well explained above. The closest word for grief in Urdu could be “ gham + takleef “ ( mournings + pain) Dawn please open up comments section for all subjects except politics.
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ZK Aug 08, 2025 10:35pm
My Urdu speaking grandparents who would correct the English of their own colonial British teachers called jam Murrabba my whole life. Ridiculous to say there is no Urdu word for jam. More apt to say our millennial generation has a profound (culturally promoted) weakness in grasping Urdu as a language.
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Sailani Aug 08, 2025 11:53pm
Grief word in urdu is gham
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Alvi hameed shaheen Aug 09, 2025 05:20am
Urdu word for grief is صدمہ sadmah.
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ZAIN Aug 09, 2025 05:36am
Just clickbait, nothing more. Like she's denying every urdu word for 'grief'; the same could be done to the rest of the vocabulary. English and Urdu are both distinct languages with little to no historical and etymological connection.
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Jamal Anjum Aug 09, 2025 09:06am
Ghum, Malal, Huzn are the equivalent. The only difference among the three words is the 'depth',
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Jamal Anjum Aug 09, 2025 09:08am
Furthermore, 'grief ' is also a state of 'sorrow'.
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Uzi Aug 09, 2025 11:56am
Ask a classic Urdu teacher. Most likely its a combination of two words. Gham farhosh or something. To emphasize the word for sadness to relay grief.
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Dr. Salaria, Aamir Ahmad Aug 09, 2025 01:14pm
No doubt, Urdu is a great and the third widely spoken language in the world after Chinese and English and this type of conspiracies against Urdu have been going on for quite some time. At the end of the day, once again, Urdu would be victorious. By the way, how many universities in the world offer a Ph.D. in Urdu? Not very many.
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Khalid Kundi Aug 09, 2025 02:38pm
Urdu was the language of warriors. Grief has to be a no no.
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A Aug 09, 2025 05:44pm
I have actually shared the real word for grief which is حُزن but you weren't bothered to cover that for some reasons lol! I gave her subtweet too, but oh picky people
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Urdu Baba Aug 09, 2025 06:28pm
I think there should be a brief research on Urdu language as. Urdu has many words for something and none for others especially modern and tech related like “computer”. New words should be added and it's about time.
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Syed Hameedullah Shah Aug 09, 2025 10:43pm
افسردگی
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Fariha Aug 10, 2025 08:18am
This was fun to read, thanks
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