Rekhta Dictionary Blog

Rihaaish: The Word we’ve All Got Completely Wrong!!

‘Rihaaish’, a word that’s nowhere to be found in our classical poetry, but features a lot after its wane, means a stay, dwelling, residence, and also a delay (spatial) ...continue reading

All that you don’t know about the word Ustad, is keeping you from becoming one!

Ustad, originally came from the Zend language, even appearing in the Zoroastrian religious text ‘Avesta’, meaning a knower of Avesta ...continue reading

KHulaasa-e-KHulaasa: Opening the word KHulaasa

KHulaasa actually means the purest part of something. A word that really can help us wrap our heads around it is the Hindi word NichoD, or the essence of a matter; ‘baat kaa nichoD yeh hai kih…’ ...continue reading

The Strange Connection between Dastak and Baalak

Baalak (Baal + Ak), thus, means a little Boy or ChhoTa Bachha and Dastak (Dast + Ak), although it means a knock at the door ...continue reading

Tarjama-e-Tarjama: Translating the word Tarjama

Essentially, Tarjama comes to mean ‘taking conjecture out of the equation (shakk duur karna)’. In Arabic, it originally means ‘a biography, an account of a person’s life and events.’ Tarjama Karna would therefore mean to write a biography, and not tr ...continue reading

Sahi vs Sahih: Do You Know the Difference?

What you see above is actually the Arabic word ‘Sahiih’, that’s gradually metamorphosed into ‘Sahi’. Moreover, the two differ in script as well, the Arabic ‘Sahiih’ is written as ‘صحيح’ whereas its Hindustani twin ‘Sahi’ is scribed as ‘سہ' ...continue reading

The Curious Case of the word Maah

The Persian word ‘Maah’ got its “form” from the Sanskrit ‘Maas’, and its “meaning” (following the logic) from the Arabic ‘Shahr’ ...continue reading

Samandar: Aag Bhi Paani Bhi

In Sanskrit, Samudra literally means “sealed” (Sa+Mudra = With Seal), and came to mean ocean because the shore appears to be sealing the water body, hence SaMudra. But, there’s yet another side to it ...continue reading

Tayyar: The Word you weren’t Prepared For

In Urdu, as we know, Tayyar means ‘to be ready or prepared, to be available, be bent upon doing something’. But these are far away from the word’s original, or at least intended set of meanings ...continue reading

Think You Know All About the Word Tahreer? Think Again!

The word is derived from the Arabic root Hurr (H-r-r), which means a free man; liberal; a slave set free ...continue reading