Sayings are where the constraints of grammar fall flat. Sayings are where the limits of our language are pushed. Sayings are where everyday speakers insert their ‘Private Meanings’, (hello, Wittgenstein lovers) ...continue reading

‘To do, or to cook?’ shed some light on two of our most common verbs that we often use interchangeably. These are ‘Banaanaa’, to make, prepare; to contrive (slang), and ‘Pakaanaa’, to cook; to bore (slang) ...continue reading

‘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

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

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

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

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

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

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