PSEB SS Urdu flashcards
PSEB SS Urdu · Build recall with a focused review session.
32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.
- Ghazal
- An Urdu poetic form of couplets (sher) sharing a single radif and qafiya, with the matla as opening couplet and maqta containing the poet's takhallus.
- Sher
- A single couplet in Urdu poetry whose two lines are thematically complete and self-contained; the basic unit of a ghazal.
- Radif
- The repeated word or phrase that appears at the end of both lines of every couplet in a ghazal, after the qafiya.
- Qafiya
- The rhyming element placed immediately before the radif in a ghazal; couplets must share the same qafiya to be formally correct.
- Matla
- The opening couplet of a ghazal, in which both lines carry the qafiya and radif; the first couplet establishes the rhyme scheme.
- Maqta
- The closing couplet of a ghazal, conventionally containing the poet's pen name (takhallus) woven into the line.
- Takhallus
- The pen name a poet inserts into the maqta of a ghazal; for example, Ghalib, Iqbal, and Faiz each use their own takhallus.
- Nazm
- A thematic Urdu poem with a unified subject and continuous argument, as distinct from the independent couplets of a ghazal.
- Marsiya
- An elegiac Urdu poem lamenting a death, classically composed in six-line stanzas (musaddas) commemorating the martyrs of Karbala.
- Qasida
- A long formal Urdu ode in mono-rhyme, traditionally opening with praise and often including panegyric of a patron.
- Masnavi
- A long narrative Urdu poem in rhyming couplets (aa, bb, cc), used for epic, romantic, and didactic storytelling.
- Rubai
- A four-line Urdu quatrain with a specific metre and rhyme scheme, typically aabb or aaba, often philosophical or epigrammatic.
- Dastaan
- A long prose narrative of adventure, magic, and romance, told in ornate style; the classic example is the Tale of Amir Hamza.
- Afsana
- The modern Urdu short story, characterized by unity of effect, realistic characterization, and a compact plot in prose.
- Khaka
- An Urdu prose sketch portraying a real person's traits and mannerisms with humour and affectionate irony, not full biography.
- Safar Nama
- An Urdu travelogue recording a journey's observations, places, people, and impressions in narrative prose.
- Sawanih
- An Urdu biographical account of a person's life events, written in chronological prose; distinct from an autobiographical account.
- Mazmoon
- An Urdu prose essay on a chosen topic; classified as bayani (descriptive), tanqeedi (critical), or tasawwuri (imaginative).
- Khatt Nigari
- The art of Urdu letter writing; formal (rasmi) letters use respectful salutations and a fixed closing, informal (ghair-rasmi) letters are personal.
- Muhawara
- An Urdu idiom - a fixed phrase whose figurative meaning differs from its literal words; must be used in context, not translated word for word.
- Mutradif
- A synonym in Urdu grammar: a word with the same or near-same meaning as another, tested in vocabulary questions.
- Mutazad
- An antonym in Urdu grammar: a word with the opposite meaning to another, tested in vocabulary questions.
- Ism
- The Urdu noun; classified by gender (muzakkar/muannas), number (wahid/jama), and type (ism-e-khas, ism-e-aam).
- Zameer
- The Urdu pronoun (main, tum, woh, hum, aap); it substitutes for a noun and must agree with the noun in gender and number.
- Fail
- The Urdu verb; carries three tenses (mazi - past, haal - present, mustaqbil - future) and agrees with the subject in person, gender, and number.
- Sift
- The Urdu adjective, which qualifies a noun (mausuf); it normally follows the noun it describes in Urdu word order.
- Wahid aur Jama
- The singular and plural forms of an Urdu noun; plurals are formed by adding suffixes such as -ein, -an, or -at depending on the word.
- Muzakkar aur Muannas
- Grammatical masculine and feminine gender in Urdu; every noun is assigned one, and the verb and adjective must agree with it.
- Tarjuma
- Translation in the Urdu paper; passages are rendered between Urdu and English/Punjabi, preserving meaning, idiom, and register rather than word order.
- Tashreeh
- The explanation of a poetry couplet or prose passage: restating meaning, then unpacking imagery, diction, and poetic devices in the candidate's own words.
- Iqbal
- Allama Muhammad Iqbal, the central Urdu poet of the syllabus, known for philosophical nazms and ghazals on selfhood (khudi) and Muslim revival.
- Ghalib
- Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib, the nineteenth-century Urdu and Persian poet celebrated for philosophical, ironic, and densely layered ghazals.