Word Meaning
तस्वीरों
tasvīrōn
Meaning
Pictures, portraits, painted figures, or earthen likenesses (oblique plural).
Detailed Meaning
This is the oblique plural form of 'tasveer', signifying pictures, images, or sculpted forms. In this couplet by Allama Iqbal, 'mitti ki tasveeron' (pictures of clay) refers metaphorically to mortal human beings formed from earth. It suggests that without ardent love, humans remain inert earthen figures lacking genuine spiritual fire and vitality.
Etymology
Derived from the Arabic verbal noun 'taṣwīr' (تصویر), from the triconsonantal root ṣ-w-r (to shape, fashion, or depict); adopted into Urdu via Persian.
Usage
In classical Urdu poetry, a 'tasveer' often stands for someone frozen in astonishment or grief, or human existence viewed as a mere painted likeness waiting for the spark of life.
Examples
figures made of silent clay
in the faded portraits of memory