محنت

See also: مخنث and مجنب

Persian

Etymology

Etymology tree

Arabic مِحْنَة (miḥna)bor.

Persian محنت

Borrowed from Arabic مِحْنَة (miḥna).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): [mih.nat]

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [me̞ɦ.nät̪]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [me̞ɦ.nät̪]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [mɪ.nät̪]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [mi.nät̪]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [meɦ.næt̪]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [meɦ.nät̪]

Readings

Classical reading?	mihnat
Dari reading?	mehnat
Iranian reading?	mehnat
Tajik reading?	mehnat

Noun

مِحْنَت • (mehnat)

1. tribulation, toil, hardship

Descendants

• → Bengali: মেহনত (mehnot)
• → Gujarati: મહેનત (mahenat)
• → Hindustani:

  Hindi: मेहनत (mehnat)

  Urdu: محنت (mehnat)

• → Marathi: मेहनत (mehnat)
• → Punjabi:

  Gurmukhi script: ਮਿਹਨਤ (mihnat)

  Shahmukhi script: مِحْنَت (miḥnat)

• → Sindhi: مِحْنَتَ (mihnata)

Sindhi

Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian محنت (mihnat), from Arabic مِحْنَة (miḥna).

Noun

مِحْنَتَ • (mihnata) f

1. labor

Derived terms

• محنتائتو
• محنتاٹو
• محنتی

Further reading

• Parmanand, Mewaram (1910) “مِحْنَتَ , مَحِنَتَ”, in Sindhi-English Dictionary, Hyderabad, Sindh: The Sind Juvenile Co-operative Society

Urdu

Etymology

Etymology tree

Arabic مِحْنَة (miḥna)bor.

Classical Persian مِحْنَت (mihnat)bor.

Urdu مِحْنَت (mihnat)

Borrowed from Classical Persian مِحْنَت (mihnat), borrowed from Arabic مِحْنَة (miḥna).^[1] First attested in c. 1635 as Middle Hindi محنت (mḥnt /⁠mihnat⁠/).^[2]

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /mɪɦ.nət̪/, [meɦ.nət̪]
• (chiefly Punjabic Urdu) IPA^(key): [mɛʱ.nət̪]
• Rhymes: -ət̪
• Hyphenation: مِح‧نَت

Noun

مِحْنَت • (mihnat) f (Hindi spelling मेहनत)

1. hard work, effort
2. toil, labour
3. hardship

Declension

Declension of محنت

	singular	plural
direct	مِحْنَت (mihnat)	مِحْنَتیں (mihnatẽ)
oblique	مِحْنَت (mihnat)	مِحْنَتوں (mihnatõ)
vocative	مِحْنَت (mihnat)	مِحْنَتو (mihnato)

Related terms

• مِحْنَتِی (mihnatī)
• مِحْنَت کَرْنا (mihnat karnā)
• مِحْنَت لَگْنا (mihnat lagnā)

References

1. Platts, John T. (1884) “محنت”, in A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English, London: W. H. Allen & Co.
2. “محنت”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.

Further reading

• “محنت”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2025.
• Fallon, Platts, Qureshi, Shakespear (2024) “محنت”, in Digital Dictionaries of South Asia [Combined Urdu Dictionaries]