# Hindi:  अफ़वाह (masc or fem)



## amiramir

Hello,

I always thought *अफ़वाह *was masculine. But then I saw a Hindi native on this forum earlier today refer to it as feminine. In various dictionaries it appears masculine as well, but a cursory google check shows that many Hindi speakers consider it a feminine noun. 

What's the concensus here?

Thanks


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## Alfaaz

افواہ - _afwaah_ (also here in Farhang-e-Asifiyyah) is masculine in Urdu according to dictionaries. It is often _misused_ as feminine, even in classical poetry! From this perspective, it seems to be also accepted as feminine by some. 

Just in case anyone is interested: It is an Arabic plural literally meaning _mouths_. Arabic forum thread: أفواه

Edit: Feroz-ul-Lughaat actually lists this as feminine in Urdu here.


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## Englishmypassion

I don't know about dictionary entries but I have always heard, read and said "Afwaah faili hui hai/fail rhi hai" "Maine afwaah suni hai" etc, i.e. in feminine.


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## amiramir

Thanks, Alfaazji, for the interesting info. 

EMPji, that's good to know. I suppose when speaking I will stick to the feminine as well so as to avoid sounding pedantic, or even wrong!


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## Englishmypassion

A Honey Singh song, which is very popular these days in India, also has the words " Tere baare mein SUNI hai ek afwaah". 
That's right, amir. I doubt if the masculine would be pedantic-- only wrong in my opinion.


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## cherine

Alfaaz said:


> Just in case anyone is interested: It is an Arabic plural literally meaning _mouths_. Arabic forum thread: أفواه


And just in case someone doesn't take the time to check the thread in the Arabic forum, I'd like to clarify this here:
أفواه being the plural of an inanimate noun/object, it is treated (at least in Arabic) like a singular feminine noun. If Urdu dictionaries say the word is masculine, then maybe that the way it should be used in Urdu. But if Hindi and/or colloquial Urdu use the feminine, then maybe it's an influence of the original Arabic usage.


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## Alfaaz

cherine said:
			
		

> And just in case someone doesn't take the time to check the thread in the Arabic forum, I'd like to clarify this here:
> أفواه being the plural of an inanimate noun/object, it is treated (at least in Arabic) like a singular feminine noun. If Urdu dictionaries say the word is masculine, then maybe that the way it should be used in Urdu. But if Hindi and/or colloquial Urdu use the feminine, then maybe it's an influence of the original Arabic usage.


 Thanks for the information here and in the other thread cherine SaaHibah! This topic is interesting and somewhat confusing as well. After posting, I searched online for examples and saw that Urdu writers back from Mir Taqi Mir all the way to Sadat Hasan Manto have used _afwaah_ as feminine singular (just as you have explained for Arabic and unlike what Platts list as masculine singular) with اَفواہیں as the plural. This plural also indicates the word being feminine, but is listed in the dictionary entries underneath the description اسمِ مذکّر!? Perhaps there is a mistake in the dictionary entries, a difference between the two schools of Urdu (Lucknow vs. Dehli) as discussed previously for other words, or some other explanation...!? (The majority of people in Urdu media of both countries seem to use it as feminine as well.)


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## Alfaaz

Update: I just checked in Feroz-ul-Lughaat here (a dictionary printed by Ferozsons  Ltd. in Pakistan, so later in time than Platts-1884 and Farhang-1918) and it lists _afwaah_ as masculine/feminine with a note in parenthesis at the end saying (incorrectly, according to the information provided by the Arabic forum thread and cherine SaaHibah) that it is treated as masculine in Arabic but feminine in Urdu!

It would be nice to have examples from the literature of both languages, if there are any, of _afwaah's_ usage as masculine.

There was a similar discussion about the difference/disagreement of the gender of another word in Urdu: gender of fikr.


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## littlepond

Always feminine in Hindi.


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## marrish

"_afvaah_" in Hindi, or in the Nagari script seems to be just feminine in Hindi. झूठी अफ़वाह _jhuuThii afvaah_ is found 97 times on the net. _jhuuThaa afvaah_ doesn't exist. The dictionaries seem to be copying some error or that there is a gender-switch going on from masculine to feminine. 
The usages randomly from the net today use afvaah in different contextual and grammatical position in a sentence:

गाय काटने की अफ़वाह पर मुस्लिम युवक की पीट पीट कर हत्या _gaay kaaTne *kii* afvaah par muslim yuvak kii piiT piiT kar hatyaa._
जी हाँ हम एक सभ्य समाज के नागरिक होने का दावा तो करते हैं,पर हमारे सभ्य समाज की हवा निकालने के लिए एक अफ़वाह काफ़ी होती है। _jii haaN ham ek sabhya samaaj ke naagrik hone kaa daavaa to karte haiN, par hamaare sabhya samaaj kii havaa nikaalne ke lie ek afvaah kaafii *hotii* hai_.
इधर राजधानी के यार लोग इस झूठी अफ़वाह को सच्ची साबित करने में लगे रहे. _idhar raajdhaanii ke yaar log is *jhuuThii* afvaah ko sachchii saabit karne meN lage rahe_.


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## desi4life

Englishmypassion said:


> I don't know about dictionary entries but I have always heard, read and said "Afwaah faili hui hai/fail rhi hai" "Maine afwaah suni hai" etc, i.e. in feminine.



Could you translate your sentences to English? I'm stumped by faili/fail because I haven't heard it in Hindi or Urdu. I would guess a connection to the English word but then that doesn't make sense.


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## Englishmypassion

Hello desi4life, I meant "A rumour is in the air/A rumour is spreading". It has nothing to do with the English word "fail". Sorry I don't know Hindi typing.


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## desi4life

^ I see. You meant _phail-._ Thanks for clearing up the mystery. I was drawing a blank.

I've only heard _afvaah _as feminine.


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## littlepond

^ The f/ph conflation is a very common phenomenon in Hindi, desi jii: so in future you know that on encountering a word on this forum, you should check both its ph and f variants (and v/b variants, s/sh variants, ksh/chh variants, and so on).


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## marrish

Quite confusing but you can get used to it.


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