Latin · Arabic · Cyrillic · one language

The Kurmanji Transliteration Converter

Yazidi Kurmanji is written in three scripts: Latin in the diaspora and scholarship, Arabic in Iraq and Syria, and Cyrillic in the communities of Armenia, Georgia, and Russia. Convert a word or a passage between all three, with a broad IPA reading and the full alphabet chart.

Converter

Try:
Latin (Kurmanji / Hawar) · input
Arabic script
Cyrillic (Caucasus)
Broad IPA

Reference chart

The Kurmanji alphabet across three scripts

The Latin (Hawar) letter is the key. Arabic and Cyrillic forms are reading correspondences, shared with the term lexicon — not a claim about how any given word is spelled in a particular community.

LatinArabicCyrillicIPANotes
Vowels
a ا а a Open vowel.
e ە ә ɛ Short e.
ê ێ е eː Long e.
i ِ ь ɪ Short i; often unwritten in Arabic script.
î ی и iː Long i; Arabic ی also writes y.
o ۆ о o Rounded o.
u و у ʊ Short u; Arabic و also writes w and û.
û وو ӯ uː Long u.
Consonants
b ب б b
c ج җ d͡ʒ Like j in “jam”.
ç چ ч t͡ʃ Like ch in “chair”.
d د д d
f ف ф f
g گ г ɡ Hard g.
h ه һ h
j ژ ж ʒ Like s in “measure”.
k ک к k
l ل л l
m م м m
n ن н n
p پ п p
q ق ԛ q Uvular, further back than k.
r ر р r
s س с s
ş ش ш ʃ Like sh in “ship”.
t ت т t
v ڤ в v
w و ԝ w Arabic و is shared with u.
x خ х x Like ch in “Bach”.
y ی й j Arabic ی is shared with î.
z ز з z
Additional letters
ʼ ع ъ ʕ Ayn; written with an apostrophe in Latin.
ẍ غ г’ ɣ Ghayn; a voiced x, in loanwords.
ḧ ح һ’ ħ Pharyngeal h, in loanwords.

How to read the output

Three scripts, and what the converter can and cannot do

Kurmanji has no single official spelling. The converter is a reading aid across writing systems, not an authority on how a community writes a particular word.

Latin → Arabic or Cyrillic is deterministic

Going out from the Latin (Hawar) alphabet, each letter has one reading correspondence, so the conversion is exact and repeatable. It is a phonetic reading, not necessarily the attested local spelling.

Reverse is a best-effort reading

The Arabic script does not always mark short vowels and merges some sounds — و can be u, w, or part of û; ی can be î or y. Converting into Latin makes reasonable choices and should be checked by eye. Cyrillic reverses more cleanly.

The Caucasus Cyrillic

The Cyrillic column follows the Soviet-era Kurdish alphabet used by Yazidis in Armenia, Georgia, and southern Russia. It distinguishes some aspirated consonants that the Latin alphabet does not; those distinctions are lost when converting to Latin.

The IPA line

The IPA is a broad, stress-neutral reading aid generated from the Latin form. It is meant to help with pronunciation, not to record a specific dialect or a careful phonetic transcription.

Named authorities

Sources

The alphabet, sound values, and script conventions follow standard references.

Geoffrey Haig

Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji)

Bamberg linguistic reference for the Kurmanji sound inventory and the Latin (Hawar) orthography behind the broad IPA readings.

Garnik Asatrian & Victoria Arakelova

The Religion of the Peacock Angel

Reference for the Yazidis of the Caucasus, whose communities used the Soviet-era Kurdish Cyrillic alphabet.

Pre-publication reference set. The correspondences are technically complete and shared with the term lexicon; script tables and edge cases still require the named specialist reviewer the site’s editorial gate calls for.

Version 1.0.0 · Built 18 August 2026 · Term lexicon