چی

See also: چي, جي, خی, جئ, حي, and جٍي

Central Kurdish

Alternative forms

• چ (çi)

Etymology

Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷis.

Pronoun

Northern Kurdish	çi

چی (çi)

1. (interrogative) what, which

Usage notes

• As a determiner, must be followed with a noun in the indefinite.

Derived terms

• بۆ چی (bo çî)

Persian

Etymology 1

From Middle Persian 𐭬𐭤 (čē [ME], “what, which”).

Alternative forms

• چه (če) (formal literary standard)

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): [t͡ʃiː]

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [t͡ʃʰiː]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [t͡ʃʰiː]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [t͡ʃʰiː]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [t͡ʃʰi]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [t͡ʃʰiː]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [t͡ʃʰi]

Readings
Classical reading?	čī
Dari reading?	čī
Iranian reading?	či
Tajik reading?	či

Pronoun

Dari	چه, چی
Iranian Persian	چی, چه
Tajik	чи

چی • (či)

1. (interrogative, colloquial, in formal prose dated or Dari) what?

   راجع به هر چی فکر کرده بودم، راجع به مردن فکر نکرده بودم.

   râje' be har či fekr karde budam, râje' be mordan fekr nakarde budam.

   Whatever I had thought about, I hadn't thought about dying.

Derived terms

• چی بودیم، چی شدیم (či budim, či šodim)
• هر چیز (“har čiz”)

Etymology 2

From Azerbaijani -çi or Ottoman Turkish ـجی (-ci), from Proto-Turkic *-či.

Suffix

ـچی • (-či)

1. -er; -eer

Derived terms

Persian terms suffixed with چی