Urdu Shaayari is the most popular genre of Urdu writing and is often the first exposure to the Urdu language for most of us, thanks to popular Hindi film songs and ghazals, which have enthralled generations in South Asia.

One can read Shaayari either in Urdu or in English or Hindi transliteration. Many of the Urdu words used in Shaayari are familiar to those North Indians for whom Urdu is not the first language. But one still comes across unfamiliar words and compound-words in every sher, the meaning of which are not known. And these unfamiliar words rob the entire sher of its magic!

Moreover, dictionaries do not give the meanings of compound-words. This is a pity since the real challenge in knowing the meaning of compound-words is that the correct nuance of their meanings is often different from the sense derived by merely putting together the meaning of individual words comprising the compound word.

Hence I have compiled the 'The Urdu Dictionary of Shaayari - In English'. It is a comprehensive dictionary dedicated exclusively to words and compound-words drawn from the most popular shers of the Masters of Urdu Shaayari of South Asia and the diaspora. This enlarged version is filled with 3300+ Urdu words from Urdu Shaayari. And its uniqueness lies in the inclusion of 350+ compound-words drawn from these shers of Masters Shaayars.

The moment you encounter an unfamiliar word or compound-word, just pop open 'The Urdu Dictionary of Shaayari - In English' and return quickly to the sher, which now resonates with meaning! The Urdu words and compound-words are transliterated in English and arranged alphabetically for ease of reference, with the word meaning in English. In addition, each Urdu word and compound-word is transliterated in Hindi since the pronunciation is rendered truer in Hindi.

Sunil Gupta 'Mustaqil'