اشارہ

Borrowed from Classical Persian اِشَارَه (išāra), borrowed from Arabic إِشَارَة (ʔišāra), from أَشَارَ (ʔašāra).

Sense 8 is a semantic loan from Punjabi اِشَارَہ (īśārah, “sign; indicator”).

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /ɪ.ʃɑː.ɾɑ(ː)/

• Audio (Pakistan):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: اِ‧شا‧رَہ

اِشارَہ • (iśāra) m (Hindi spelling इशारा)

1. gesture, indication, pointing
2. (linguistics) sign; a semantic unit
3. (figuratively) hint, signal, insinuation
4. (by extension) an order, command
5. (figuratively) hint, reference, allusion
6. (literature) a metaphor, simile
7. symbol, emblem (physical or otherwise, of any kind)
9. (chiefly Punjabic Urdu) sign, road sign, directive

   (road transport) traffic signal

   (automotive) indicator, turn signal

10. (grammar, ellipses) a pronoun
11. (Sufism) ineffability, (something unable to be expressed through words). (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)

• “اشارہ”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.
• Qureshi, Bashir Ahmad (1971) “اشاره”, in Kitabistan's 20th Century Standard Dictionary‎, Lahore: Kitabistan Pub. Co.
• “اشارہ”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2025.

Borrowed from Urdu اِشَارَہ (iśāra).

اِشارہ (išārah)

1. peach
2. sign, signal
3. symbol
4. gesture, hint
5. indication
6. traffic signal
7. (figuratively) hint, signal