फ़ालतू

Hindi

Etymology

Probably borrowed from Portuguese falto (/⁠faltu⁠/).

Pronunciation

  • (Delhi) IPA(key): /fɑːl.t̪uː/, [fäːl.t̪uː], /pʰɑːl.t̪uː/, [pʰäːl.t̪uː]

Adjective

फ़ालतू • (fāltū) (indeclinable, Urdu spelling فالتو)

  1. unnecessary, pointless
    Synonym: व्यर्थ (vyarth)
    मेरा फ़ालतू में इतना वक़्त क्यों बरबाद किया?
    merā fāltū mẽ itnā vaqt kyõ barbād kiyā?
    Why did you unnecessarily waste my so much time?
  2. bad; not nice; of poor quality
    Synonyms: बुरा (burā), बुरी (burī), घटिया (ghaṭiyā), बेकार (bekār)
    उसे हाथ मत लगाओ, वह फ़ालतू चीज़ है
    use hāth mat lagāo, vah fāltū cīz hai
    Do not touch it, it's a bad thing.
  3. useless, irrelevant, good-for-nothing (used for someone)
    Synonyms: अनुपयोगी (anupyogī), बेकार (bekār), टाइमपास (ṭāimpās)

Descendants

  • Assamese: ফাল্টু (phaltu)
  • Bengali: ফালতু (phaltu)
  • Dari: فَالْتُو (fāltū)
  • Marwari: फालतू (phāltū)
  • Nepali: फालतू (phālatū)
  • Pashto: فالتو
  • Punjabi:
    Gurmukhi script: ਫ਼ਾਲਤੂ (fāltū), ਫਾਲਤੂ (phāltū)
    Shahmukhi script: فالْتُو (fāltū)