charming; bewitching; coquettish
Rare literary word describing a captivating, seductive beauty, often with a coquettish or alluring nuance. Used mainly in classical or highly stylized writing.
Everyone was captivated by her bewitching smile.
その女優は艷冶な魅力で観客を魅了した。
The actress enthralled the audience with her coquettish charm.
Literary kanji form; the character 艷 is a traditional variant of 艶. Modern usage is very rare.
Modern standard kanji form, but still rare and literary. Only 艷冶 is covered here, but 艶冶 is the more common modern spelling.
Compound of 艷 (en, 'bewitching beauty') and 冶 (ya, 'alluring' or 'seductive'). The exact historical derivation is uncertain; the word is a literary Sino-Japanese term.