Word Meaning
अदाएँ
adaayein
Meaning
Graceful gestures, coquettish airs, charming mannerisms, or playful coquetries.
Detailed Meaning
In classical Urdu poetics, 'ada' (plural 'adaayein') refers to the beloved's alluring gestures, playful caprices, or coquettish mannerisms. In this couplet, it refers to the beloved's deliberate coldness and evasive glances, framed ironically as charming yet hurtful behaviors intended to bid the lover away. The lover interprets even this calculated aloofness as an act of bewitching artifice.
Etymology
From Arabic 'adā' (performance, execution), which developed the semantic shift in Persian and Urdu into charming manner, graceful carriage, or coquetry.
Usage
Widely used in ghazal poetry to epitomize the cruel yet utterly captivating feminine charms and haughty gestures of the beloved.
Examples
Her enchanting airs steal away the heart without effort.
Even the cold turns of her head have alluring graces.