Hafta

For a definition of the meaning of the word "hafta", see the Wiktionary entry hafta.
For the village in Iran, see Hafta, Iran.

Hafta (Persian: هفته) is the Persian word for week and is also used as a loanword in Hindi, Urdu and Turkish languages. A week has seven days, and is possible that it could be from Hepta, for seven.

Hafta (Devanagari: हफ़्ता) is also slang for the protection money collected periodically by gangsters and corrupt policemen. In case of policemen, however even bribes paid are often quoted as giving hafta.[1] This meaning seems to have gained its popularity because of its usage as part of Bombay Hindi.[2] It is named so because the most common collection period is one week. The practice is highly prevalent in India and a refusal to pay up has its consequences.[3][4]

In Popular Culture

Hafta has been used in the title of low-budget action movies in Bollywood. Some of the examples include movies like Hafta Vasuli (1998), Hafta Bandh (1991).

References

  1. ↑ "Paying Rs 25,000 monthly hafta to police for our restaurant". www.ipaidabribe.com. Retrieved 2016-04-15.
  2. ↑ "Mumbai Slang". sidthebohemian.deviantart.com. Retrieved 2016-04-15.
  3. ↑ AamBoli.com. "हफ़्ता- Translation, Meaning in Hindi, Thesaurus, Shabdkosh, examples.". www.aamboli.com. Retrieved 2016-04-15.
  4. ↑ Refusing ‘hafta’ to cop costs shoemaker his life
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