How did Arabic words enter Hindi through Persian?

Arabic words entered the Hindi language primarily through Persian, which served as the court language of the Mughal Empire. Following the establishment of Muslim hegemony in North India in the early 13th century, speakers of Persian, Arabic, and Turkic languages migrated to the region, facilitating linguistic interaction with speakers of Khari Boli.12

As Persian was the prestige language of administration and culture under Mughal rule, it acted as a conduit for a vast array of Arabic vocabulary. These terms were assimilated into the local vernacular, permeating various aspects of daily life, including administration, law, architecture, and religion. Over centuries, these Perso-Arabic loanwords became so deeply integrated into the lexicon that they are often indistinguishable from indigenous vocabulary.31

While later efforts to standardize Hindi led some to promote the use of Sanskrit terms to replace these borrowings, the Perso-Arabic influence remains a fundamental component of the language, particularly in colloquial speech.21