हेच-कारा

Meaning

Worthless, incompetent, ineffective, or of no use.

Detailed Meaning

In Persian and Urdu poetry, 'hech-kāra' refers to someone who is useless, incapable, or lacking fortitude and active purpose. In this couplet, Iqbal uses 'mard-e-hech-kāra' to describe a weak, ineffective person who lacks the spiritual resolve to plunge into the depths of selfhood ('khudi') and rise transcendent.

Etymology

Persian: compound of 'hēch' (nothing, worthless) and 'kārah' (capable of work/action), literally meaning 'of no use' or 'good-for-nothing'.

Usage

Commonly used either in humble self-deprecation by the poet or polemically to contrast an idle person with an active, self-realized spirit.

Examples

Synonyms

Related Words