/ˈaɪ.pə/

Urdu

Family: Indo-European · Eurasia · ISO urd · Glottolog · 70,000,000 speakers
37
Consonants
21
Vowels

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in Urdu — a Indo-European language spoken in Eurasia . With 58 phonemes, it has a relatively large inventory compared to the world's languages. Sounds marked with a dashed border (*) are marginal: they appear only in loanwords or highly specialized contexts and are not part of the core phonological system.

Consonants

affricate

t̠ʃ ~ d̠ʒ ~ d̠̤ʒ̤ ~ t̠ʃʰ ~

approximant

ʋ ~ j ~

fricative

ɦ ~ f ~ x ~ ɣ ~

lateral fricative

l̻ ~

nasal

n̻ ~ m ~

sibilant fricative

s ~ z ~ ʃ ~ ʂ ~

stop

d̻̤ ~ t̻ ~ t̻ʰ ~ d̻ ~ pʰ ~ b̤ ~ p ~ b ~ ʈ ~ ɖ ~ ʈʰ ~ ɖ̤ ~ q ~ ɡ ~ ɡ̤ ~ kʰ ~ k ~

tap

ɽ ~ ɽ̤ ~

trill

r ~

Vowels

ʊ ~ ɔː ~ uː ~ oː ~ ɪ ~ iː ~ ə ~ æ ~ äː ~ eː ~ ɛː ~ ʊ̃ ~ õː ~ ɔ̃ː ~ ũː ~ ɪ̃ ~ ĩː ~ ã̈ː ~ ə̃ ~ ẽː ~ ɛ̃ː ~

* Marginal phoneme — occurs only in loanwords or rare contexts.

How large is this inventory?

Smaller (11) Average (36) Larger (141)
58
phonemes

Urdu has 58 phonemes, placing it in the 91th percentile of languages by inventory size — a notably large inventory.

Compared to English

For English speakers learning Urdu, these are the sounds that will require the most focused practice.

In Urdu, not in English (44)

These sounds don't exist in English — English speakers will need to learn them from scratch.

d̠̤ʒ̤ t̠ʃʰ ʋ ɦ x ɣ l̻ n̻ ʂ d̻̤ t̻ t̻ʰ d̻ b̤ p ʈ ɖ ʈʰ ɖ̤ q ɡ̤ kʰ k ɽ ɽ̤ r ɔː uː ɪ ə æ äː eː ɛː ʊ̃ õː ɔ̃ː ũː ɪ̃ ĩː ã̈ː ə̃ ẽː ɛ̃ː

In English, not in Urdu (31)

English speakers learning Urdu won't use these sounds — they'll need to suppress them.

h l n w ŋ e i d ʒ v ts ɛ ɒ ɐ ð θ ɘ ɹ kx ɐː ʉː iə eə oe æe ɑe ɵː æo ɐʉ ɒɯ ʉə
Full phoneme comparison: English vs Urdu →

Most phonologically similar languages

Ranked by Jaccard similarity — the proportion of phonemes shared relative to the combined inventory of both languages.

Burushaski 33%
Compare →
Hindi-Urdu 32%
Compare →
Punjabi 31%
Compare →
Sindhi 30%
Compare →
Telugu 30%
Compare →

Compare Urdu with another language

See which sounds are shared and which are unique.

vs Hakka Chinese vs SEDANG vs Kharia vs Bhumij vs Kota vs Burushaski vs Kabardian vs Lak vs Ket vs Yao