In the sentence: Her head was in his lap, and he was playing with her hair.
Given that what the verb really defines is him brushing her hair with his hand or stroking it gently, is there a better way to express that ?
asked Nov 9, 2015 at 8:34
-
2Of course there is. Hair-toying.– RickyCommented Nov 9, 2015 at 8:56
-
Is he brushing and/or touching the woman's hair?– Mari-Lou ACommented Nov 9, 2015 at 9:14
-
Both actually .– Ragheb AlKilanyCommented Nov 9, 2015 at 9:20
-
1This question about translating "cafuné" to english is related: portuguese.stackexchange.com/questions/4777/… (in Portuguese)– ANevesCommented Sep 18, 2017 at 13:31
Add a comment
|
4 Answers
I don't think you can use one word to say "play with someone's hair", but I think the verb "to caress" does a better job of expressing the idea of him lovingly stroking her hair:
Her head was in his lap, and he was caressing her hair.
Definition:
caress: to touch someone gently in a way that shows you love them
(Longman)
-
-
1
Consider, fondle.
: to handle, stroke or touch lovingly AHD
The word cafuné in Brazilian Portuguese is literally "the act of fondling someone's hair". It's considered untranslatable to English, thus could be a loanword or borrowed word.
To "tousle someone's hair" is to play with someone's hair...
-
Nice idea! BUT, the OED defines tousle as "To pull about roughly; to handle (esp. a woman) rudely or indelicately; to disorder, dishevel (the hair, clothes, etc.)'– DanCommented Mar 12, 2019 at 23:27
-
This is probably why the definition of "play" was explicitly stated in the question, although you can try this way until she is no longer receiving messages from you. Commented Feb 27, 2021 at 8:47