Today, let us look at an old and famous Hindi muhavra:
आँखों का तारा
Transliteration of the above muhavra: Ankhon ka tara.
Literal translation: Star of (one’s) eyes.
Figurative meaning: This Hindi idiom is very similar in meaning to the English idiom “apple of one’s eye.”
Example of the idiom’s usage in a sentence:
मेरा दोस्त विजय के दो बेटे हैं, लेकिन वह प्यार ज्यादा करता है अपनी इकलौती पोती से, जो उसकी आंखों का तारा है।
Transliteration of the above sentence: Mera dost Vijay ke do bete hai, lekin woh pyar jyada karta hai apni eklouthi pothi se, jo uski ankhon ka tara hai.
Translation and figurative meaning of the above sentence:
My friend Vijay has two sons, but he loves the most his only granddaughter, who is the apple of his eye.
Origin of the above Hindi idiom:
‘Ankhon ka tara’ is one of the ancient Hindi idioms that has been in use for centuries. Its English equivalent, ‘Apple of the eye,’ is found also in the Bible (Psalm 17:8), making the English version at least over four thousand years old!
The human eye is valued as one of our very valuable organs. It is our window to the outside world. We use our eyes to gather information about the world around us. Our eyes also convey our feelings and emotions to anyone looking at our eyes. Our eyes are greatly valued, cared for, and protected by us.
When we describe someone as the ‘star of my eyes,’ we are conveying to them the idea of the extent of our love for them. We are telling them how precious they are to us and how much we care for them.
Looking forward . . .
I hope you were able to gain some knowledge about the Hindi idiom ‘Ankhon ka Tara’ from this blog post.
If you have any questions, please feel free to write in the comments section below. I will be happy to hear from you and to respond to you.
In the coming days and weeks, I will be posting similar articles on other Hindi idioms, explaining their meanings in English, and I hope many more non-Hindi speakers will benefit from my blog posts.
