Kurmanji ⇄ English · 180 terms · source-cited

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Search Yazidi religious vocabulary, oral genres, festivals, places, community terms, and everyday Kurmanji used in the tradition. Every headword has a stable page, a concise English definition, broad IPA, and transparent script-reading aids.

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Pre-publication reference set. The 180-entry launch dataset is technically complete; spellings and interpretive definitions still require the named Yazidi-affiliated or specialist reviewer required by the site’s editorial gate.

Alphabetical index

25 terms shown

25 matching terms.

Festivals & ritual Audio later

Batizmî

Batizmi season

A regional winter ritual cycle especially associated with Çêlka communities; dates and household customs vary.

IPA
/batɪzmiː/
Arabic reading
باتِزمی
Full entry
Festivals & ritual Audio later

Bêlênda

Belenda feast

A winter observance known in some Yazidi communities, with regional forms and differing calendar placement.

IPA
/beːleːnda/
Arabic reading
بێلێندا
Full entry
Festivals & ritual Audio later

bisk birîn

first haircut rite

The prescribed first cutting of a child's hair, traditionally performed by the family's sheikh.

IPA
/bɪsk bɪriːn/
Arabic reading
بِسک بِرین
Full entry
Festivals & ritual Audio later

Çarşema Sor

Red Wednesday

The Yazidi New Year, observed on the first Wednesday of April in the Eastern or Julian reckoning.

IPA
/t͡ʃarʃɛma sor/
Arabic reading
چارشەما سۆر
Full entry
Festivals & ritual Audio later

cejn

feast

A feast, festival, or religious celebration.

IPA
/d͡ʒɛʒn/
Arabic reading
جەژن
Full entry
Festivals & ritual Audio later

Cejna Cemayê

Feast of the Assembly

The principal annual autumn assembly and pilgrimage at Laliş.

IPA
/d͡ʒɛʒna d͡ʒɛmajeː/
Arabic reading
جەژنا جەمایێ
Full entry
Festivals & ritual Audio later

Cejna Êzî

Feast of Êzî

The Friday feast that follows the three-day Rojiyên Êzî fast in December.

IPA
/d͡ʒɛʒna eːziː/
Arabic reading
جەژنا ێزی
Full entry
Festivals & ritual Audio later

Cejna Xidir Nebî

Feast of Khidr Nabi

A winter feast associated with Xidir Nebî and preceded in some communities by fasting.

IPA
/d͡ʒɛʒna xɪdɪr nɛbiː/
Arabic reading
جەژنا خِدِر نەبی
Full entry
Festivals & ritual Audio later

Cema

assembly

An assembly or communal gathering; the word also occurs in the name of the great autumn feast.

IPA
/d͡ʒɛma/
Arabic reading
جەما
Full entry
Festivals & ritual Audio later

Çileya Havînê

summer forty-day period

A named forty-day summer period used in seasonal and devotional reckoning.

IPA
/t͡ʃɪlɛja haviːneː/
Arabic reading
چِلەیا هاڤینێ
Full entry
Festivals & ritual Audio later

Çileya Zivistanê

winter forty-day period

A named forty-day winter period used in seasonal and devotional reckoning.

IPA
/t͡ʃɪlɛja zɪvɪstaneː/
Arabic reading
چِلەیا زِڤِستانێ
Full entry
Festivals & ritual Audio later

çira

lamp

A lamp or light kindled in a sacred or domestic ritual context.

IPA
/t͡ʃɪra/
Arabic reading
چِرا
Full entry
Festivals & ritual Audio later

fitil

lamp wick

A wick used in a lamp or sacred light.

IPA
/fɪtɪl/
Arabic reading
فِتِل
Full entry
Festivals & ritual Audio later

hec

pilgrimage

Pilgrimage or the act of making a pilgrimage, especially to a sacred destination.

IPA
/hɛd͡ʒ/
Arabic reading
هەج
Full entry
Festivals & ritual Audio later

Kloça Serê Salê

New Year bread

The special New Year loaf or cake prepared with a token used in household divination and blessing customs.

IPA
/klot͡ʃa sɛreː saleː/
Arabic reading
کلۆچا سەرێ سالێ
Full entry
Festivals & ritual Audio later

mor kirin

baptismal sealing

The initiation rite commonly described as baptism or sealing with water at Kaniya Spî in Laliş.

IPA
/mor kɪrɪn/
Arabic reading
مۆر کِرِن
Full entry
Festivals & ritual Audio later

pak

pure

Clean or pure in ordinary and religious usage.

IPA
/pak/
Arabic reading
پاک
Full entry
Festivals & ritual Audio later

qurban

sacrifice or offering

A sacrificial offering, commonly an animal offering, made in a religious or communal setting.

IPA
/qʊrban/
Arabic reading
قوربان
Full entry
Festivals & ritual Audio later

rojî

fast

A religious fast or fasting practice.

IPA
/roʒiː/
Arabic reading
رۆژی
Full entry
Festivals & ritual Audio later

Rojiyên Êzî

fast of Êzî

The three fasting days, Tuesday through Thursday, immediately before Cejna Êzî.

IPA
/roʒɪjeːn eːziː/
Arabic reading
رۆژِیێن ێزی
Full entry
Festivals & ritual Audio later

Serê Salê

New Year

Literally the head of the year, a widely used name for the Yazidi New Year festival.

IPA
/sɛreː saleː/
Arabic reading
سەرێ سالێ
Full entry
Festivals & ritual Audio later

şevberat

Berat night

A night observance whose name joins şev, night, with berat; practices should be described by region.

IPA
/ʃɛvbɛrat/
Arabic reading
شەڤبەرات
Full entry
Festivals & ritual Audio later

simat

ritual meal

Consecrated or communal food prepared and distributed in connection with a shrine or ceremony.

IPA
/sɪmat/
Arabic reading
سِمات
Full entry
Festivals & ritual Audio later

Tawûs gêran

circulation of the Peacock standard

The traditional visitation cycle in which qewals carried sacred peacock standards among Yazidi communities.

IPA
/tawuːs ɡeːran/
Arabic reading
تاوووس گێران
Full entry
Festivals & ritual Audio later

Tiwaf

shrine festival

An annual local feast or gathering connected with a particular shrine and its community.

IPA
/tɪwaf/
Arabic reading
تِواف
Full entry

How to read this lexicon

One canonical form, transparent aids

The lexicon separates sourced lexical content from mechanically generated reading aids. That distinction matters because Yazidi Kurmanji is written in more than one script and spelling practice is not uniform across Iraq, the Caucasus, and diaspora communities.

  1. 01
    Headword and meaning

    The Latin Kurmanji form is the editorial key. Definitions are concise syntheses checked against at least two category-appropriate scholarly sources.

  2. 02
    Broad IPA

    The IPA line maps the written Kurmanji form to a broad, stress-neutral reading. It is a pronunciation aid, not a recording or dialect claim.

  3. 03
    Script reading variants

    Arabic and Cyrillic forms are deterministic transliterations of the Latin headword. They are labelled “reading” forms and must not be mistaken for attested local spellings.

  4. 04
    Audio slots

    Every entry reserves an audio control, but no synthetic voice is substituted for a speaker. Recordings can be attached after speaker consent and dialect metadata are available.

Named authorities

Sources and verification

Definitions are editorial paraphrases, never copied qewl text. Individual entries show a smaller category-specific source set.

Philip G. Kreyenbroek and Khalil J. Rashow

God and Sheikh Adi are Perfect

Harrassowitz, 2005. A documented selection of Yazidi sacred poems and narratives with discussion of genres, performance, and oral transmission.

Geoffrey Haig

Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji)

Bamberg linguistic reference used for the Kurmanji sound inventory and the broad, stress-neutral IPA reading key.

Dataset version 1.1.0 · Built 15 August 2026 · XML term sitemap