بت شکن

Urdu

Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian بت شکن (but-šikan, “iconoclast”). By surface analysis, بُت (but, “idol”) +‎ شکن (śikan, “breaker, smasher”), literally “idol-breaker”.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /bʊt̪.ʃɪ.kən/

Noun

بت شکن • (but-śikan) ?

1. iconoclast, idol-breaker
2. a title, famously applied to Mahmud Ghaznavi and Hazrat Ali

Further reading

• “شکن بت شکن”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.
• Qureshi, Bashir Ahmad (1971) “شکن&searchhws=yes&matchtype=exact بت شکن”, in Kitabistan's 20th Century Standard Dictionary‎, Lahore: Kitabistan Pub. Co.
• “شکن بت شکن”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2024.
• S. W. Fallon (1879) “شکن&matchtype=default بت شکن”, in A New Hindustani-English Dictionary, Banaras, London: Trubner and Co.
• Platts, John T. (1884) “بت شکن”, in A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English, London: W. H. Allen & Co.