تتلی

See also: تتلي, تبلي, and تتلى

Urdu

تتلی

Etymology

From Middle Hindi تیتری (tytry /⁠tītrī⁠/) / تتری (titrī), from Prakrit 𑀢𑀺𑀢𑁆𑀢𑀺𑀭𑀺 (tittiri), ultimately from Sanskrit तित्तिर (tittirá). Dasa, Qureshi relate it to تِیتَر (tītar, “partridge”).

Compare Punjabi تِتْلِی (titlī) / ਤਿਤਲੀ (titlī).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /t̪ɪt̪.liː/
• Rhymes: -iː
• Hyphenation: تِت‧لی

Noun

تِتْلی • (titlī) f (Hindi spelling तितली)

1. butterfly
   • 1972, مِینا کُماری ناز [mīnā kumārī nāz], تنہا چاند [tanhā cānd, Lonely Moon]‎^[1], page 89:

     لمحے اُڑتے ہیں کبھی یا تو تتلیوں کی طرح یا کبھی خوشبوؤں کی مانند چیخ اُٹھتے ہیں

     lamhe uṛte hẽ kabhī yā to titliyõ kī tarh yā kabhī xūśabvũ kī mānind cīx uṭhte hẽ

     Moments fly away, sometimes like butterflies, or sometimes they scream like fragrances.

2. (figurative) elegantly-dressed woman
3. common rue (Ruta graveolens)

Declension

Declension of تتلی
	singular	plural
direct	تِتْلی (titlī)	تِتْلِیاں (titliyā̃)
oblique	تِتْلی (titlī)	تِتْلِیوں (titliyō̃)
vocative	تِتْلی (titlī)	تِتْلِیو (titliyō)

Further reading

• “تتلی”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.
• “تتلی”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2024.
• Fallon, Platts, Qureshi, Shakespear (2024) “تتلی”, in Digital Dictionaries of South Asia [Combined Urdu Dictionaries]
• Turner, Ralph Lilley (1969–1985) “tītarī”, in A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages, London: Oxford University Press