Colours in Urdu ============ Kathai aankhon wali ek ladki, ek hi baat par bigadti hai Tum mujhe kyun nahi mile pehle, roz kehke mujhse ladti hai (Rough English translation: The brown-eyed girl, gets upset by only one thing; Why didn’t you meet me sooner, she asks me this everyday.) This beautiful line was penned by Javed Akhtar for the film Duplicate. Ever wondered what the lafz ‘kathai’ means. It describes the beautiful brown coloured eyes of the girl and adds a twang of lyricism to an otherwise simple line. Below are the Urdu names for different colours: Black سیاہ siyáh White سفيد Safaid Red لال، سرخ surḳh Pink گلابى Gulábí Orange نارنگی nárangí Saffron کیسریا، زعفران kesirayá, záfrán Yellow پیلا، زرد pílá, zard Green ہرا، سبز hará, sabz Blue نيلا Nílá Light Blue/sky blue آسمانی Ásmání Turquoise فیروزی Ferozí Purple بینگنی، جامنی، اودا bainganí, jámní, údá, arghwani Brown بھورا Bhúrá, kathai Almond coloured بارامک Badami Gray سلیٹی، سرمئی sleṭí, surmaí Silver چاندی، روپہلا chándí, rúpahalá Golden سنہرا Sunahará Shiny چمکیلا Chamkílá Source: Wikipedia Another interesting colour-related word is ‘unnaabi’ (انابک) which is the reddish-brown colour of mashed grapes (Unnabi in Urdu means grape) and is typically used to describe the colour of blushed cheeks, or when someone is embarrassed. (Source: Saadat Hasan Manto’s short story ‘Mozail’) Some more additions, courtesy Sophia Andre Kapadia: violet: banafshii-بنفشی mauve: kaasnii-کاسنی blue : aabi آبی cochineal/dusty pink : Pyaazi Bright magenta: Rani A couplet with ‘kaasnii’ | Faiz Sahib writes in his poem “pass raho”: Tume mere paas raho…Dard kai kaasni pazeb bajaati niklay (Stay near me….when (the night) comes out wearing mauve / steel-blue anklets, ringing with grief) Source: forum.wordreference
Posted on: Wed, 03 Dec 2014 15:21:37 +0000
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