पढ़ा-लिखा (padhaa-likhaa)
adjective
A compound adjective built from the past participles of पढ़ना (padhnaa, 'to read/study') and लिखना (likhnaa, 'to write'), meaning 'educated' or 'literate'. One core sense, used of people.
Sense
1
:
educated, literate
adjective
Synonyms: शिक्षित (shikshit, formal), साक्षर (saakshar, literacy-specific -- can mean simply 'able to read and write' rather than broadly 'educated')
Frequency: high
Cultural Note: This is the everyday word Indians use to size someone up socially -- a पढ़ा-लिखा (padhaa-likhaa) इंसान (insaan, 'person') is someone from a 'good,' schooled background, and you'll hear parents use it as a badge of pride about their kids or as a criterion in matchmaking conversations. It carries a slightly broader, warmer sense than the more clinical शिक्षित (shikshit), which shows up more in official or written contexts.
Common Mistakes: 1) Learners sometimes treat this as two separate adjectives rather than a fixed compound -- both halves always appear together and inflect together, agreeing as a single unit with the noun they describe (e.g. पढ़ी-लिखी लड़की (padhii-likhii ladkii, 'educated girl')). 2) पढ़ा-लिखा (padhaa-likhaa) describes a person's general education/literacy level, not the act of having read a specific book -- for 'I have read this book' you'd use मैंने यह किताब पढ़ी है (mainne yah kitaab padhii hai, 'I have read this book'), not this word.
Sample Sentences:
वो एक पढ़ा-लिखा इंसान है।
He is an educated person.
(vo ek padhaa-likhaa insaan hai।)
हमारे परिवार में सब पढ़े-लिखे हैं।
Everyone in our family is educated.
(hamaare parivaar men sab padhe-likhe hain।)
लड़की के लिए पढ़ा-लिखा लड़का ही ढूँढना।
Find only an educated boy for the girl.
(ladkii ke lie padhaa-likhaa ladkaa hii dhoondhnaa।)
अगर वो पढ़ा-लिखा होता, तो ये गलती नहीं करता।
If he were educated, he wouldn't have made this mistake.
(agar vo padhaa-likhaa hotaa, to ye galtii nahiin kartaa।)
मुझे लगता है कि लड़का पढ़ा-लिखा हो तो शादी में कोई दिक्कत नहीं होगी।
I think if the boy is educated, there won't be any problem in the marriage.
(mujhe lagtaa hai ki ladkaa padhaa-likhaa ho to shaadii men koii dikkat nahiin hogii।)
उसके माँ-बाप को अपने बेटे के पढ़े-लिखे होने पर बहुत गर्व है।
His parents are very proud that their son is educated.
(uske maan-baap ko apne bete ke padhe-likhe hone par bahut garv hai।)
गाँव में पढ़ी-लिखी लड़कियाँ अब पहले से ज़्यादा हैं।
There are now more educated girls in the village than before.
(gaanv men padhii-likhii ladkiyaan ab pahle se zyaadaa hain।)
उसकी बातों से तो लगता ही नहीं कि वो पढ़ा-लिखा है।
From the way he talks, you wouldn't even guess that he's educated.
(uskii baaton se to lagtaa hii nahiin ki vo padhaa-likhaa hai।)
पढ़े-लिखे होने के बावजूद उसे नौकरी नहीं मिली।
Despite being educated, he didn't get a job.
(padhe-likhe hone ke baavjood use naukrii nahiin milii।)
क्या तुम इतने पढ़े-लिखे होकर भी यह नहीं समझते?
Even being so educated, don't you understand this?
(kyaa tum itne padhe-likhe hokar bhii yah nahiin samajhte?)
रिश्ते की बात करते हुए उसकी माँ ने पूछा कि लड़का पढ़ा-लिखा है या नहीं।
While discussing the match, his mother asked whether the boy was educated or not.
(rishte kii baat karte hue uskii maan ne poochhaa ki ladkaa padhaa-likhaa hai yaa nahiin।)
Morphology
Adjective (variable)
Morphology could not be generated (hyphen-joined variable adjective 'पढ़ा-लिखा').