نعم البدل

From نِعَم (ni’am, “blessing”) +‎ ال (al) +‎ بَدَل (badal, “exchange”).

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /nɪʕ.mʊl.bə.d̪əl/, /nɪʕ.məl.bə.d̪əl/, ,

• Audio (Pakistan):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əl

نِعْمُ البَدَل or نِعْمَ البَدَل • (ni’mu lbadal or ni’ma lbadal) m (Hindi spelling नेमुल बदल or नेमल बदल) (idiomatic)

1. better alternative, change for the better (especially, but not limited to, after incurring a loss)
   • 1891, محمد ذکا اللہ [Muḥammad Z̲akāʼullāh], محاسن الاخلاق [maḥāsin alixlāq]‎, →OCLC, page 722:

     نوجوان عورت کا بچّہ مرجائے تو اُس کو خدا سے نعم البدل ملنے کی امید رکھنی چاہیے۔

     naujawān ‘aurat kā baccah marjā'ye to us ko xudā se niʻmu lbadal milne kī ummīd rakhnī cāhīye.

     If a young woman's child dies, she should hope to receive a better return from God.

2. better substitute, replacement
   • 1944, آدمی اور مشین [ādamī aur maśīn], →OCLC, page 254:

     ایک شعبہ ایسا ہے جس میں معلوم ہوتا ہے کہ مہارت ختم ہو گئی ہے اور اس کا ہمیں کوئی نعم البدل نہیں ملا ہے۔

     aik śuʻbah āisā hai jis meṉ maʻlūm hotā hai kih mahārat xatm ho ga'ī hai āur us kā hameṉ ko'ī niʻmu lbadal nahīṉ milā hai.

     There is a department in which expertise seems to have diminished and we have had no such replacement.

• “نعم البدل”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.
• “ne'mul-badal”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary , Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2025.
• The template Template:R:ur:Qureshi does not use the parameter(s):

  p=644

  Please see Module:checkparams for help with this warning.Qureshi, Bashir Ahmad (1971) “نعم”, in Kitabistan's 20th Century Standard Dictionary‎, Lahore: Kitabistan Pub. Co.
• Platts, John T. (1884) “نعم”, in A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English, London: W. H. Allen & Co.
• John Shakespear (1834) “نعم”, 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