# Urdu, Persian: Iron



## Sheikh_14

The purpose of this thread is to ask the Urdu and Farsi equivalent of Iron in its mineral form.


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## Alfaaz

Urdu: 

Iron: فولاد ، حدید، آہن ; _faulaad_ seems to be most commonly used in the context of nutrition.


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## Jervoltage

Simply آهن in Persian. By the way, iron is not a vitamin but a mineral.


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## Faylasoof

Jervoltage said:


> Simply آهن in Persian. By the way, iron is not a vitamin but a mineral.


 Yes, indeed! I just corrected it!
آهن _aahan _is used in Urdu too as Alfaaz SaaHib has mentioned. Persian borrowing of course.


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## Faylasoof

Alfaaz said:


> Urdu:
> 
> Iron: فولاد ، حدید، آہن ; _faulaad_ seems to be most commonly used in the context of nutrition.


 Alfaaz SaaHib, لوہا lohaa is the most common term we use for iron and while حدید Hadiid and آہن aahan are also used to mean iron they are not so common, esp. for the mineral we use in our diet.

فولاد faulaad, by the way, is steel!


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## fdb

_āhan_ is the Persian, _ḥadīd_ the Arabic word for “iron”. ­_fūlāδ_  فولاذ is Arabic for “steel”, actually a loan-word from (early) New Persian _pōlāδ_, (modern Western Persian _pūlād_), but borrowed back into Persian as _fūlād_ with unpointed د . Do you really say _faulād_ in Urdu?


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## Sheikh_14

Alfaaz said:


> Urdu:
> 
> Iron: فولاد ، حدید، آہن ; _faulaad_ seems to be most commonly used in the context of nutrition.



Firstly, Alfaaz sahib as indicated by others faulaad is steel an alloy of iron and not iron itself. Although as those who have pitched in have indicated that they are many synonyms for Iron in its metal form which one is most felicitious when looking upon the matter from a medical or biological perspective. People mostly resort to just the English iron when it comes to the mineral even if otherwise they use loha, hadeed or ahaan. Alfaaz sahib isn't completely wrong as I have heard people erroneously say faulaad key kami thus in common speak it is present but yet not correct.


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## Sheikh_14

Do you really say _faulād_ in Urdu?[/QUOTE]

Yes, we do. However, it is an esoteric word thus your average Joe-schmoe wouldn't. Hope that helps. As far as its veracity is concerned than most definitely.


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## Faylasoof

Sheikh_14 said:


> Firstly, Alfaaz sahib as indicated by others faulaad is steel an alloy of iron and not iron itself. Although as those who have pitched in have indicated that they are many synonyms for Iron in its metal form which one is most felicitious when looking upon the matter from a medical or biological perspective. People mostly resort to just the English iron when it comes to the mineral even if otherwise they use loha, hadeed or ahaan. Alfaaz sahib isn't completely wrong as I have heard people erroneously say faulaad key kami thus in common speak it is present but yet not correct.


 I agree! _faulaad_ is just the wrong term for iron, because it means _steel_. 

As for _aahan_ and _Hadiid,_ these are just not common in daily Urdu speech, but _lohaa_ is and doctors too use this term: _aap ko lohe kii kamii hae _= you have iron deficiency.

In formal Urdu prose and poetry of course you do have plenty of instances where both _aahan_ and_ Hadiid_ are used.


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## Alfaaz

Faylasoof said:
			
		

> Alfaaz SaaHib, لوہا lohaa is the most common term we use for iron
> ...
> فولاد faulaad, by the way, is steel!


 Thanks Faylasoof SaaHib. Yes, _but from my (limited) experience_, it seemed that _faulaad_ was used for _iron_ also (perhaps because lohaa would sound somewhat odd)! It could be that people use it incorrectly!

Example: _paalak, daaloN, anDe ki zardii, artichokes, waghairah faulaad se bharpuur haiN aur inke saath vitamin C waali cheezeN bhi isti3maal karnaa mufeed hai chuNkeh woh iron ko jazb karne meN madad kartaa hai_


			
				Sheikh_14 said:
			
		

> Alfaaz sahib isn't completely wrong as I have heard people erroneously say faulaad key kami thus in common speak it is present but yet not correct.


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## Sheikh_14

Alfaaz said:


> Thanks Faylasoof SaaHib. Yes, _but from my (limited) experience_, it seemed that _faulaad_ was used for _iron_ also (perhaps because lohaa would sound somewhat odd)! It could be that people use it incorrectly!
> 
> Example: _paalak, daaloN, anDe ki zardii, artichokes, waghairah faulaad se bharpuur haiN aur inke saath vitamin C waali cheezeN bhi isti3maal karnaa mufeed hai chuNkeh woh iron ko jazb karne meN madad kartaa hai_



We forgive you Alfaaz sahib! Besides it added a valuable flavour to the debate by bringing in common misnomers and misstatements.

Thank you all and job well done. Was having an argument with someone who had a habit of using Faulaad to begin with!


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## Faylasoof

Alfaaz said:


> Thanks Faylasoof SaaHib. Yes, _but from my (limited) experience_, it seemed that _faulaad_ was used for _iron_ also (perhaps because lohaa would sound somewhat odd)! It could be that people use it incorrectly!
> 
> Example: _paalak, daaloN, anDe ki zardii, artichokes, waghairah faulaad se bharpuur haiN aur inke saath vitamin C waali cheezeN bhi isti3maal karnaa mufeed hai chuNkeh woh iron ko jazb karne meN madad kartaa hai_


 I follow you exactly Alfaaz SaaHib! Just thought it proper to add what I added. I think people are using _faulaad_ because it sounds less ordinary / mundane but it really means _steel_. I know its use is not uncommon but I can't understand why would people think that _lohaa_ sounds odd in this context.


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## marrish

Sheikh_14 said:


> The purpose of this thread is to ask the Urdu and Farsi equivalent of *Iron in its mineral form*


Iron is as others already mentioned in Urdu and its mineral form as found in the nature is called خام لوہا، کچا لوہا، لوہے کی کچی دھات _xaam lohaa/kachchaa lohaa/lohe kii kachchii dhaat_.

Getting back to the discussion, _loha_ is what I use and hear with regard to its body levels. I did hear _faulaad_ though but it sounds quite funny.


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## Sheikh_14

marrish said:


> Iron is as others already mentioned in Urdu and its mineral form as found in the nature is called خام لوہا، کچا لوہا، لوہے کی کچی دھات _xaam lohaa/kachchaa lohaa/lohe kii kachchii dhaat_.
> 
> Getting back to the discussion, _loha_ is what I use and hear with regard to its body levels. I did hear _faulaad_ though but it sounds quite funny.



If I am not wrong you are referring to Iron ore here, yes Marrish sahib? If so than that is appreciated as even though it wasn't the precise purpose of this thread as its direction indicates but it adds to the seperate connotations of Iron.


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## marrish

^Yes, exactly I am! I hope it's not a big fuss that I added something what was not your purpose but this was what I thought about when I saw the title of this thread - possibly someone can find it in the future when looking for 'iron ore'' or ''iron in mineral form''. Thanks for the appreciation - the part which you may be interested in is that to me using _faulaad_ for ''iron in blood'' feels just the opposite to what for example Alfaaz SaaHib reported.


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## Alfaaz

Faylasoof said:
			
		

> I follow you exactly Alfaaz SaaHib! Just thought it proper to add what I added. I think people are using _faulaad_ because it sounds less ordinary / mundane but it really means _steel_. I know its use is not uncommon butI can't understand why would people think that _lohaa_ sounds odd in this context.


 This could be one reason! It could also be that _some_ people don't really associate the word with food, nutrition, and medicine. For example:

سلاد تقریباً تیار ہے! اب بس تیزاب ڈالنا باقی ہے - _The salad is almost ready! Now, only the addition of acetic acid is left!_
instead of...
سلاد تقریباً تیار ہے! اب بس سرکہ ڈالنا باقی ہے - _The salad is almost ready! Now, only the addition of vinegar is left!_


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## Qureshpor

Faylasoof said:


> I follow you exactly Alfaaz SaaHib! Just thought it proper to add what I added. I think people are using _faulaad_ because it sounds less ordinary / mundane but it really means _steel_. _I know its use is not uncommon but I can't understand why would people think that lohaa sounds odd in this context._


_I think people see "lohaa" in the form of a metal (which it is) that is very hard and they come across __objects __such as nails__ made from it__ in their daily lives. They can not imagine this "lohaa" to be present in what they consume (e.g spinach or liver), for  if it was present in their food intake, it would break their teeth! Hence the need to have/use فولاد._


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## Cilquiestsuens

Qureshpor Sb., I think you just nailed it!

If you allow me, I will add my two cents: _*lohaa*_  is indeed the proper word for the iron ore. However when the ore is  mixed in water, as you can find in many sources in the Northern Areas of  PK, I have never heard local people use _*lohaa*_ in that case, but only *faulaad*. 

*paanii me.n faulaad hai... 
faulaad vaalaa paanii hai..
faulaad-aamez paanii hai...

yeh  paanii dekhne me.n gadlaa-sa lagtaa hai, jaisaa ki us me.n maTTii ho,  magar phir bhii aap us ko piine se gurez na kare.n, kyo.nki us ke andar  maTTii nahii.n, balki faulaad hai, qudratii taur par, jo ki bohot sehat-bakhsh aur mufiid chiiz hai. Haa.n, aur us kaa za'iqah bhii aap ko maze-daar lagegaa.  *


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## Qureshpor

fdb said:


> _āhan_ is the Persian, _ḥadīd_ the Arabic word for “iron”. ­_fūlāδ_  فولاذ is Arabic for “steel”, actually a loan-word from (early) New Persian _pōlāδ_, (modern Western Persian _pūlād_), but borrowed back into Persian as _fūlād_ with unpointed د . Do you really say _faulād_ in Urdu?


All the main Urdu dictionaries I have consulted give the word as "fuulaad" and Platts gives "faulaad" as "vulgar". Read "vulgar" as "colloquial". If you were to ask me, fdb SaaHib, how I have been reading and pronouncing this word all my life, I would reply to you by saying "folaad". But this is perhaps due to my Punjabi upbringing.


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## fdb

Thank you for the elucidation. In Afghanistan (Kabul dialect) they do say _fōlād_, but this is because pre-tonic /ū/ generally becomes /ō/ in Kabuli. So perhaps the “vulgar” Urdu pronunciation came in from Afghanistan. The other possibility is that _fawlād_ is a “contamination” of Arabic _fūlāδ_ and genuine Persian _pōlād_.


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## Faylasoof

Qureshpor said:


> _I think people see "lohaa" in the form of a metal (which it is) that is very hard and they come across __objects __such as nails__ made from it__ in their daily lives. They can not imagine this "lohaa" to be present in what they consume (e.g spinach or liver), for  if it was present in their food intake, it would break their teeth! Hence the need to have/use فولاد._


 Yes, but _fualaad _is also a metal! I know we have a محاورہ _muHaawarah_: _lohe ke chane chabaanaa_. This might put people off using the correct term. 
If imagination about _lohaa_ is an issue here then why not use _aahan_? At least then one would be using the correct term ... and _aahan_ is used in Urdu.


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## Qureshpor

Faylasoof said:


> Yes, but _fualaad _is also a metal! I know we have a محاورہ _muHaawarah_: _lohe ke chane chabaanaa_. This might put people off using the correct term.
> If imagination about _lohaa_ is an issue here then why not use _aahan_? At least then one would be using the correct term ... and _aahan_ is used in Urdu.


Yes, faulaad is a metal but how often does this word come into one's daily speech? lohe ke nal, lohe kii mex, lohe kii salaaxeN etc. faulaad is perhaps conceived as a distant, exotic term. This is just my perception, Faylasoof SaaHib. I am not suggesting that lohaa should not be used.


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## Faylasoof

Qureshpor said:


> Yes, faulaad is a metal but how often does this word come into one's daily speech? lohe ke nal, lohe kii mex, lohe kii salaaxeN etc. faulaad is perhaps conceived as a distant, exotic term. This is just my perception, Faylasoof SaaHib. I am not suggesting that lohaa should not be used.


 I know this argument and made this very point above, that _fualaad_ sounds exotic and less mundane, but it is a term you do hear. However, the point is we shouldn't be using a low(er) frequency of usage to justify using an incorrect Urdu term for iron in our diet. If low / lower frequency is anything to judge by then why not _aahan_ which seems to be used even less than _fulaad_ and therefore ought to be regarded as even more exotic ...and, btw, also happens to be accurate. 

_Haddid_ would also be an alternative except we have a chapter called Surat Al-Hadiid (The Iron) سورة الحديد and some may be put off using this term and reserve it for very special usage.


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## Sheikh_14

Well Faylasoof those who would suggest that Hadiid only be used under a religious pretext are by that very fact quite "special" indeed. For prospective readers' of this thread I would suggest the following for ones iron levels lohe ke sutuuH, sutuuH e aahan along with sutuuH e Hadiid.


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