Ishq
n.kind, joyfulliterary
What it means
In Urdu, strong, all-consuming, or passionate love.
Reach for it when preserving a culturally specific Urdu term when ordinary love would lose its intensity
The poem treats ishq as a love that transforms both longing and self-knowledge.
Choose between these
6- everyday
a love relationship is the practical subject
not when Romance is broader, often lighter, and can exclude spiritual dimensions.
- warm
deep admiring love is central
not when Adoration can idealize its object and is less connected to longing.
- warm
passionate love
plain English should stress emotional intensity
not when The phrase loses the term's cultural, poetic, and sometimes spiritual associations.
- formal
steadfast dedication matters more than desire
not when Devotion can be familial, religious, or vocational and may lack romantic intensity.
- formal
mystical love
the context explicitly concerns love of the divine
not when Mystical love is too narrow when ishq describes human passion.
- literary
heated intensity suits elevated prose
not when Ardor is an emotional quality, not the culturally situated concept of ishq.
Said against
3- indifference
- detachment
- aversion
It naturally appears in
4- idea of ishq
The novel places the idea of ishq beside duty and family loyalty.
- poetry of ishq
The course reads poetry of ishq in translation and in its original languages.
- language of ishq
Her song uses the language of ishq without reducing it to romance.
- divine ishq
The commentary distinguishes divine ishq from romantic longing.
Where this comes from
This record grounds Urdu usage only. Spellings and senses in Arabic, Persian, and other languages require their own sources and should not be inferred from this entry.
- Rekhta Urdu Dictionary, Urdu noun: strong emotional attachment, excessive or passionate love opens in a new tab · retrieved 2026-07-26
The definition and the example on this page are written here. The dictionaries above ground which meaning is being described, not the wording.