# Urdu/Punjabi/Hindi: dard (gender)



## marrish

Hi, the noun _*dard*_ in Urdu, meaninng _pain _is a peculiar word. I hear it very commonly being used as a feminine noun, like مجھے درد ہو رہی  ہے mujhe dard ho rahii hai. I haven't yet come across of this gender assignment in [classical] Urdu poetry or prose. Platts doesn't acknowledge the feminine possibility either. The usage of feminine is prevalent among Punjabi speakers for sure, but not only, I heard this from a couple of friends with a Hindi background, too.

How about the correctnes of such usage? Its popularity? Is it an example of a recent gender shift?


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## Qureshpor

marrish said:


> Hi, the noun _*dard*_ in Urdu, meaninng _pain _is a peculiar word. I hear it very commonly being used as a feminine noun, like مجھے درد ہو رہی ہے mujhe dard ho rahii hai. I haven't yet come across of this gender assignment in [classical] Urdu poetry or prose. Platts doesn't acknowledge the feminine possibility either. The usage of feminine is prevalent among Punjabi speakers for sure, but not only, I heard this from a couple of friends with a Hindi background, too.
> 
> How about the correctnes of such usage? Its popularity? Is it an example of a recent gender shift?




As you have indicated "dard" in Urdu is masculine. I have not heard it to be feminine in Punjabi. "piiR" (pain), yes but not "dard".


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## nineth

In Hindi, it's masculine; it would sound a little odd to me if someone uses it in a feminine form, but not too much. PeeDa, which is roughly equivalent, is feminine and this could possibly be the source of confusion, and it really sounds weird (or much weirder) if someone uses peeda in a masculine form.


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## Faylasoof

marrish said:


> Hi, the noun _*dard*_ in Urdu, meaninng _pain _is  a peculiar word. I hear it very commonly being used as a feminine noun,  like مجھے درد ہو رہی  ہے mujhe dard ho rahii hai. I haven't yet come  across of this gender assignment in [classical] Urdu poetry or prose.  Platts doesn't acknowledge the feminine possibility either. The usage of  feminine is prevalent among Punjabi speakers for sure, but not only, I  heard this from a couple of friends with a Hindi background, too.
> 
> How about the correctnes of such usage? Its popularity? Is it an example of a recent gender shift?


 Although I have heard some people treat _*dard*_ as feminine, it is, as we all agree, a masculine noun in Urdu and Colloquial Hindi:


P *درد dard* [Pehl. _dart_; Zend _drīta_, fr. _dar_ = S. _dar_], s.*m*.  Pain, ache; affliction; pity, compassion, sympathy; affection

... and as you affirm, there is no evidence of it being treated as feminine in either Urdu prose or poetry. Here are some examples from Ghalib and Daagh Dehlavi:


عشق سے طبیعت نے زیست کا مزا پایا 
درد کی دوا پائی، درد بے دوا پایا 

غالبؔ

درد مِنّت کشِ دوا نہ ہوا
میں نہ اچھا ہوا،  برا نہ ہوا

غالبؔ

شیریں کے لیے تیشہ زنی اس نے نہیں کی
فرماتے ہیں وہ درد تھا فرہاد کے سر میں

داغ 

All have _*dard*_ as masculine. Poets and writers from Lucknow did the same. 



nineth said:


> _*In Hindi, it's masculine; it would sound a little odd to me if someone uses it in a feminine form, but not too much*_. Peeda which is roughly equivalent is feminine and this could possibly be the source of confusion, and it really sounds weird (or much weirder) if someone uses peeda in a masculine form.


 _*I agree with this! *_It does sound odd to me too but as I have heard it often enough used as a feminine by _some_ people, and I do understand why they use it thus, I no longer react.  But for us it has always been masculine.


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## Qureshpor

marrish said:


> Hi, the noun _*dard*_ in Urdu, meaninng _pain _is a peculiar word. I hear it very commonly being used as a feminine noun, like مجھے درد ہو رہی  ہے mujhe dard ho rahii hai. I haven't yet come across of this gender assignment in [classical] Urdu poetry or prose. Platts doesn't acknowledge the feminine possibility either. The usage of feminine is prevalent among Punjabi speakers for sure, but not only, I heard this from a couple of friends with a Hindi background, too.
> 
> How about the correctnes of such usage? Its popularity? Is it an example of a recent gender shift?




Searching on the net, to my surprise, I came across the following examples.

*بعض عورتوں کو تو آدھے سر کی درد ہوتی ہے ، اوریہ دردیں تھکا دینے والی ہوتی ہیں *

ba3z 3auratoN ko to aadhe sar kii dard hotii hai, aur yih dardeN thakaa dene vaalii hotii haiN

اگر یہ سزائیں آج اِسی طرح نہ                              ہوتیں تو ہمیں یہ تجربہ کبھی بھی نہ ہوتا کہ  بچے کی                              پیدائش کے وقت جو دَرد ہوتی ہے وہ کیا بلا ہوتی ہے 

agar yih sazaa'eN aaj is tarH nah hotiiN to hameN yih tajribah kabhii bhii nah hotaa kih bachche kii paidaa'ish ke vaqt jo dard hotii hai vuh kyaa balaa hotii hai.

भारी _दर्दें_ सहती हुई जच्चा हस्पताल पहुंची और नवजात शिशु को जन्म दिया!

bhaarii dardeN sahtii hu'ii jachchaa haspataal pahuNchii aur navajaat shishu ko janm diyaa!


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## marrish

There is a wide agreement that dard is masculine both in Urdu and in Hindi. This is surely so in the literary language. The examples kindly provided above prove it clearly. But, as Qureshpor SaHib too admits, the usage does not apparently follow the norm. Many other feel dard as feminine doesn't sound too weird, though. The point I was trying to make is whether it is a sort of recent shift, or a gender shift in making?

I am aware of the Punjabi and Hindi feminine words which can be used in place but I'm wondering whether it is the reason for this alone or whether dard as feminine noun is used in part of the world not possibly influenced by tthis.


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## Faylasoof

marrish said:


> There is a wide agreement that dard is masculine both in Urdu and in Hindi. This is surely so in the literary language. The examples kindly provided above prove it clearly. But, as Qureshpor SaHib too admits, the usage does not apparently follow the norm. Many other feel dard as feminine doesn't sound too weird, though. The point I was trying to make is whether it is a sort of recent shift, or a gender shift in making?
> 
> I am aware of the Punjabi and Hindi feminine words which can be used in place but I'm wondering whether it is the reason for this alone or whether dard as feminine noun is used in part of the world not possibly influenced by tthis.


 Searching the net can provide you with all sorts of examples and many usages which are non-standard, others just wrong! This is not restricted either to this particular topic or the languages under consideration. It all depends on where you end up in your search and yes of course you can find examples of *درد *_*dard*_ treated as feminine now but the point I was making was that as far as I know in the standard Urdu of the Delhi School (_dabistaan-e-dilli_) - I mean Old Delhi School, which is now dead - or that of Lucknow (_dabistaan-e-lakhnau_) - which seems to be tottering - this has never been treated as feminine. 

To find out if this gender shift is recent and / or may be in the making under the influence of other languages where a synonym is feminine would require more research but in Hindi too it  is masculine, as mentioned above. I had a look at my McGregor's Hindi-English Dictionary to see if it says anything about this gender shift but all I saw was: *दर्द dard* (P.) m. pain .... (where 'P' = Persian and 'm' = masculine). 

In the Urdu of Bihar too *درد dard* has always been _masculine_. However, having met many Urdu speakers (teachers included) in both India and Pakistan whose standard of Urdu grammar and vocabulary has something to be desired, means one shouldn't be surprised to find that they sometimes can't be sure of the gender of the noun they are using! For Urdu I also noticed an indifference by some to _zer_ and _zabar_, i.e. not distinguishing the 'a' and 'i' vowel sounds, interchanging one for the other and not realizing they have changed the meaning! I see all this part of the same broader issue of poor language standards.


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## Sheikh_14

I have only ever heard dard being used as feminine with the plural dardeiN being just as common. Even with sar-dard the plural that's most often heard is sar-dardeiN. The only time you hear it being used in the masculine is in poetry or when the izaafat is used. So dard e sar and dard e dil tends to be masculine.


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## Qureshpor

No, Sheikh SaaHib, this is not true. "dard" is almost always masculine in Urdu speech and writing. Its gender has nothing to do with the izaafat.


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## Alfaaz

marrish said:
			
		

> I haven't yet come across of this gender assignment in [classical] Urdu poetry or prose. ... The usage of feminine is prevalent among Punjabi speakers for sure, but not only, I heard this from a couple of friends with a Hindi background, too.
> 
> ... Is it an example of a recent gender shift?





			
				Qureshpor said:
			
		

> As you have indicated "dard" in Urdu is masculine. I have not heard it to be feminine in Punjabi.





			
				Qureshpor said:
			
		

> Searching on the net, to my surprise, I came across the following examples.


As everyone has already stated, _dard _is masculine in Urdu. However, one context in which _dard_ is very often heard being (_incorrectly!?_) used as feminine by some speakers is to refer to_ labor/uterine contractions_. 

Punjabi: _Doctor SaaHib/ah, dardaaN shuruu3 ho gai'yyaaN ne._
Urdu: _Doctor SaaHib/ah, dardeN shuruu3 ho ga'ii haiN._
This usage is interestingly attested in Urdu Lughat as well, with a literary example from 1935:


> دَرْدِیں لَگْنا محاورہ
> 
> (عور) درد لگنا ، دردِ زِہ اٹھنا .
> 
> خورشید جہاں بیگمُ کو مِیٹھی مِیٹھی دردیں لگیں .
> 
> ( ۱۹۳۵ ، بیگماتِ شاہانِ اودھ ، ۵۱ ).


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## Qureshpor

Alfaaz said:


> As everyone has already stated, _dard _is masculine in Urdu. However, one context in which _dard_ is very often heard being (_incorrectly!?_) used as feminine by some speakers is to refer to_ labor/uterine contractions_.
> 
> Punjabi: _Doctor SaaHib/ah, dardaaN shuruu3 ho gai'yyaaN ne._
> Urdu: _Doctor SaaHib/ah, dardeN shuruu3 ho ga'ii haiN._
> This usage is interestingly attested in Urdu Lughat as well, with a literary example from 1935:


Thank you Alfaaz SaaHib. I have not come across this usage in Punjabi.


> دَرْدِیں لَگْنا محاورہ
> 
> (عور) درد لگنا ، دردِ زِہ اٹھنا .
> 
> خورشید جہاں بیگمُ کو مِیٹھی مِیٹھی دردیں لگیں .
> 
> ( ۱۹۳۵ ، بیگماتِ شاہانِ اودھ ، ۵۱ ).


Thank you also for providing a literary reference. Who is the author of this book?

The masculine for the muHaavarah "dard lagnaa" seems to go further back in time and is still in vogue.

Urdu Lughat


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## Alfaaz

Qureshpor said:
			
		

> Thank you also for providing a literary reference. Who is the author of this book?


 Sources On Awadh From 1722 A.D. To 1856 A.D.


> 2138. Pari jamal Begmat Shahan-i-Awadh of Khwaja Abdur Rauf Ishrat Lucknavi (Delhi, 1935).


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## Sheikh_14

In everyday speech you are far more likely to hear mujhe dard ho rahii hai in lieu of dard ho rahaa hai. Janaab Faylasoof was indeed on to something in that this may be due to the prevalence of the English word pain which is indeed feminine. Also it may indeed be the case that this is predominately a Punjabism. However, I can't respond precisely to that claim, since I generally hear it being used as such by one in all except when it comes to hyphenated terms like sar-dard or pet-dard, but even then I find the gender of dard to be very flexible and down to preference. This may not originally have been the case but is most certainly the case now. Somewhat similar to the word qabz which was originally feminine, but commonly referred to as masculine to the point where it's become a mere matter of preference and convenience.


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## littlepond

Sheikh_14 said:


> the English word pain which is indeed feminine.



Both "dard" and "pain" are (always) masculine in Hindi.


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## desi4life

littlepond said:


> Both "dard" and "pain" are (always) masculine in Hindi.



Not always. As @marrish ji mentioned in the OP, there are Hindi speakers who use “dard” as feminine. I have experienced this too. And that shouldn’t be surprising. “dard” is usually feminine in Punjabi so there are going to be Hindi speakers with roots near that linguistic border who use it as feminine.


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## Qureshpor

desi4life said:


> Not always. As @marrish ji mentioned in the OP, there are Hindi speakers who use “dard” as feminine. I have experienced this too. And that shouldn’t be surprising. “dard” is usually feminine in Punjabi so there are going to be Hindi speakers with roots near that linguistic border who use it as feminine.


As a Punjabi speaker desi4life Jii, I have never encountered "dard" to be feminine in Punjabi (or Urdu for that matter). This does not ofcourse imply that no Punjabi speaker uses it as a feminine noun bearing in mind that Punjab is a large area.


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## aevynn

I also hear dard being used as feminine in my circle all the time and I typically use it as a feminine noun myself.


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## MonsieurGonzalito

In all the songs I know, when (I think) the gender is specified, it seems to be masculine:  

from the Pakistani soap opera "baaNdhe ek Dor se"
_ye(h) aaNsuu aaNsuu nahiiN haiN
ye(h) dard *mere bahte* haiN_

"Tu Mila De", from the 2006 Bollywood movie "Sawan, ... the Love Season"
_maiN ek biitaa huaa zamaan huuN
*mere dard pe* roe xushiyaaN
...
jaan ko merii chhiin liyaa hai
dard yah *kaisaa* dil ko *diyaa hai*?_

"Baanware" from Coke Studio
_phuul khile shaaxoN pe nae aur
dard *puraane *yaad *aae*_

"Ishq-vala Love"  from the 2012  Bollywood film "SOTY"  
_*huaa *jo dard bhii to hamko
aaj kuchh zyaadaa huaa_

from the Pakistni soap opera "Tum Kaun Piyaa"
_tum jaane nahiiN yah dard *meraa*
yaa jaan ke bhii anjaane ho?_
...
_jab ghaav lago koii tumko
to dard yahaaN bhii *hotaa *hai_

"dard diloN ke" (from the Bollywood  film "the Xpose", 2014)
_dard diloN ke kam ho *jaate*
maiN aur tum gar ham ho *jaate*_

from "Mere Rashk-e-Qamar"
_tiir aisaa lagaa, dard *aisaa *jagaa
choT dil pe vo khaaii, mazaa aa gayaa_

"Tum hi ho", from the 2010 Bollywood song "Aaashiqii 2"
_ziNdagii ab tum hii ho
chain bhii, *meraa *dard bhii_

"Wahan Kaun Hai Tera", from the 1965 Bollywood move "Guide"
_koii bhii terii raah na dekhe
nain bichhaae na koii
dard se *tere*, koii na taRpaa_

"Kajra re", from the Hindi 2005 comedy "Bunty Aur Babli".
_ho meraa Gam to kisii se bhiichh uptaa nahiiN
dard *hotaa *hai jab chubhtaa nahiiN_

"Ae Dil Hai Mushkil", from the 2016 namesake Indian drama
_tuune *diyaa *hai jo
vah dard hii sahii_


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