The name

What hisab means

One word, three languages, and every community in the UAE already uses it at the kitchen table. Here is what it means, and why the app is named after it.

The name

hisab

حساب · हिसाब · حساب

hi-SAAB · also written hisaab

noun · Arabic, Hindi, Urdu

Why we chose it

We did not want a brand people had to learn. We wanted the word they already say — in Arabic, Hindi and Urdu, and in the English of everyone who lives here. Hisab is the one money word every community in the UAE shares, and it already means what the app does: count it, account for it, settle it.

Common uses

  1. 1

    Math and money

    Keeping track of numbers, paying bills, balancing a budget — managing accounts.

    This is the ledger and the calculator: what you owe, in what order, and the month it ends.

  2. 2

    Responsibility

    To answer for something; to give an account of what you did and why.

    It cuts both ways. The bank owes you a clear account of what you owe and why. You give yours in writing, on your own terms.

  3. 3

    Reckoning

    The moment when everything is counted and settled.

    Not a judgement — a finish line. #DebtFreeUAE is that day.

Common phrases

hisab lagana
to work something out, to calculate
The calculator. Type the numbers, get the date.
hisab dena
to give an account, to explain
The email to your bank, drafted in your language.
hisab barabar
we're even; the account is settled
The day the last balance reads zero.
be-hisab
countless, without limit
What debt feels like before it is counted. Counting it is the first step.
What does hisab mean?
Hisab (حساب, also written hisaab) means accounts, calculation and reckoning in Arabic, Hindi and Urdu. In everyday use it covers keeping track of money and answering for what you did. Hisab is also the name of a free, private debt app for UAE residents.
Is hisab an Arabic, Hindi or Urdu word?
All three. It is Arabic in origin (حساب) and is used in the same sense in Hindi (हिसाब) and Urdu (حساب), which is why the app carries the same name in every language it speaks.
What does “hisab lagana” mean?
To work something out or calculate. “Hisab dena” means to give an account or explain yourself, and “be-hisab” means countless.
What is the Hisab app?
A free, private debt app for UAE residents that shows what you owe, what to pay first, and what to say to the bank, in English, Arabic, Hindi and Urdu, with your records kept on your phone.

Hisab, the app

A free, private debt app for UAE residents. It shows what you owe, what to pay first, and what to say to the bank; reads your Etihad Credit Bureau report in plain words; and works in English, Arabic, Hindi and Urdu. No account, no bank login, records stay on your phone.