ਤੂਫ਼ਾਨ

Tufaan (ਤੂਫ਼ਾਨ) is the Punjabi word for a storm: violent weather that brings strong wind, heavy rain and often thunder and lightning together. It is a masculine noun of Arabic origin. A dust storm on land has its own word, haneri, but tufaan is the general word for a great storm.

What does tufaan mean in Punjabi?

Tufaan means a storm of wind and rain, a tempest. Rekhta's dictionary gives exactly that first meaning, and adds deluge and flood, because a tufaan can bring water along with the wind. KhandBahale's dictionary gives tufaan as the Punjabi word for storm, and for a typhoon, the strongest kind of storm of all.

The word is of Arabic origin, and beyond the weather Rekhta lists a second family of meanings for it: a disaster, a great upheaval or disturbance, an uproar, and even a false accusation. Everyday Punjabi keeps that second sense alive, so a sudden quarrel, a scandal or a piece of shocking news can be called a tufaan as well.

How is tufaan different from haneri?

Haneri is the land storm of the Punjab plains: a dark dust storm that rolls in on hot wind, often in late spring when the wheat is ripe. A tufaan is bigger and wetter: wind with heavy rain, thunder and lightning, the kind of storm that floods fields and lifts roofs. Every haneri darkens the sky, but only some storms earn the name tufaan.

How do you say storm in Punjabi?

Storm in Punjabi is tufaan. To say a storm has come, say tufaan aa gaya hai, and to warn that one is on its way, say tufaan aan wala hai. News and weather reports reach for tufaan when wind and rain arrive together and the sky turns dangerous, and farmers use the same word for the storm that can flatten a ripe crop in an hour.