The trilateral root ‘ha-fi-za’ in Arabic means to protect, preserve, guard or sustain. Hifz is the noun form of the root and it means ‘preservation’ or ‘protection’. In Hindi/Urdu we also use hifaazat (protection, safety) which is a...
Ka-ma-la, the Arabic trilateral root for ‘perfection’. Most Hindi/Urdu speakers are familiar with this root from usages like kamaal ka meaning ‘excellent, wonderful’ and ‘kamaal hai!’ which means ‘Great!’ but more often...
In this blog Rakesh Saraf talks about the new words that have been coined in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. Much like most of humanity, I have spent pretty much the last 16 days at home. Today is Day 17 and, at the very least, I would suspect I have another 8...
The task of learning, memorising, and eventually using new words in a foreign language can be daunting. Compared to the finite number of rules that govern grammar systems with its conjugations and declensions, the number of new words to learn in a foreign language...
The Hindi word for dictionary, शब्दकोश (śabdkośa), literally means word-chest. Apart from accurately describing the function of a dictionary, the word also aptly illustrates the fundamental problem language students face upon first opening the dictionary of a new...
