رقیب

Borrowed from Arabic رَقِيب (raqīb), from رَقَبَ (raqaba). The semantic shift is already found in medieval poetry: "guardian of the beloved [who prevents the lover from seeing her]" > "rival in love" > "rival, competitor [in general]."

رقیب • (raqib) (plural رقیبان (raqibân) or رقیب‌ها (raqib-hâ) or رقبا (roqabâ))

1. rival, competitor, adversary, antagonist
   • c. 1520, Selim I of the Ottoman Empire, edited by Benedek Péri, The Persian Dīvān of Yavuz Sulṭān Selīm, Budapest, Hungary: Research Centre for the Humanities, Eötvös Loránd Research Network, →ISBN, page 98:

     بر رقیبان افکنی هر دم نظر حیف و دریغ
     اینچنین ضایع چه میسازی نگاه خویش را

     bar raqībān afkanī har dam nazar hayf u dirēğ
     īnčunīn zāyi' či mēsāzī nigāh-i xwēš rā

     Every moment, you cast looks at [my] rivals [in love]: such a pity, alas!
     Why do you waste your glances in such a way?

     (Classical Persian transliteration)

2. (archaic, original sense) guardian, keeper

   Synonym: نگهبان (negahbân)

• → Azerbaijani: rəqib
• → Georgian: რაყიფი (raq̇ipi)
• → Hindustani:

  Hindi: रक़ीब (raqīb)

  Urdu: رَقِیب (raqīb)

• → Ottoman Turkish: رقیب (rakib)

• Vullers, Johann August (1856–1864) “رقیب”, in Lexicon Persico-Latinum etymologicum cum linguis maxime cognatis Sanscrita et Zendica et Pehlevica comparatum, e lexicis persice scriptis Borhâni Qâtiu, Haft Qulzum et Bahâri agam et persico-turcico Farhangi-Shuûrî confectum, adhibitis etiam Castelli, Meninski, Richardson et aliorum operibus et auctoritate scriptorum Persicorum adauctum‎^[1] (in Latin), volume II, Gießen: J. Ricker, page 48

Borrowed from Classical Persian رَقِیب (raqīb), borrowed from Arabic رَقِيب (raqīb), from رَقَبَ (raqaba).^[1][2] First attested in c. 1564 as Middle Hindi رقیب (rqyb /⁠raqīb⁠/).^[3]

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /ɾə.qiːb/
• Rhymes: -iːb
• Syllabification: رَ‧قِیب

رَقِیب • (raqīb) m (Hindi spelling रक़ीब)

1. rival; competitor (especially in love; enemy)
2. (dated) one who watches over (guardian, guard; watchman, waiter of something)

• “رقیب”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2024.
• Qureshi, Bashir Ahmad (1971) “رقيب”, in Kitabistan's 20th Century Standard Dictionary‎, Lahore: Kitabistan Pub. Co., page 335
• John Shakespear (1834) “رقیب”, in A dictionary, Hindustani and English: with a copious index, fitting the work to serve, also, as a dictionary of English and Hindustani, 3^rd edition, London: J.L. Cox and Son, →OCLC