ایل

Old Anatolian Turkish

Etymology 1

Inherited from Proto-Turkic *ēl (“realm”); cognate with Old Turkic 𐰃𐰠 (é̄l), Bashkir ил (il), Chuvash ял (jal), Kazakh ел (el), Kyrgyz эл (el), Tatar ил (il), Turkmen īl, Uyghur ئەل (el) and Uzbek el.

Alternative forms

• ال (ẹl)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /el/

Noun

ایل • (ẹl) (definite accusative ایلی (ẹli), plural ایللر (ẹller))

1. land, country, region; the territory of a nation, a sovereign state or a region once independent and still distinct in institutions, language, etc.

   Synonyms: یر (yẹr), طپراق (ṭopraq), مملكت (memleket)

2. homeland, motherland, the country or place that one regards as home.

   Synonyms: وطن (veṭen), یورت (yurt)

3. nation, people, a historically constituted, stable community of people, formed based on a common language, territory, economic life, ethnicity and/or psychological make-up manifested in a common culture

   Synonyms: اولوس (ulus), ملت (millet)

4. tribe, an ethnic group larger than a band or clan (and which may contain clans) but smaller than a nation (and which in turn may constitute a nation with other tribes).

   Synonym: بوی (boy)

5. relative, someone connected by blood, marriage, or adoption; someone in the same family.

   Synonym: اویا (uya)

6. friend, a person, typically someone other than a family member, spouse or lover, whose company one enjoys and towards whom one feels affection.

   Synonyms: یار (yār), دوست (dōst), قولداش (qoldaş), قزاق (qazaq), اویا (uya), قوشداش (qoşdaş), اوكور (ögür)

7. (collective) other people; foreigners, strangers
   1. any other person than oneself; others, other people
   2. any other person than the oneself and the people the spoken to
   3. any person that the one does not know or recognize, strangers, foreigners
   4. any person that is not a part of one's nation, tribe, family, clan etc.

Coordinate terms

• اوروق (uruq, “clan, subdivision of a tribe”)
• اولوس (ulus, “a large tribe”)
• اویماق (oymaq, “sept of a tribe”)
• بوی (boy, “tribe, clan”)

Derived terms

• ایر اورته‌سی (ẹl ortası, “public”)
• ایل آچمق (ẹl açmaq, “to conquer (a people)”)
• ایل اری (ẹl eri, “guardian”)
• ایل اسی (ẹl issi, “ruler”)
• ایل اورمق (ẹl urmaq, “to pillage (a people)”)
• ایل اولمق (ẹl olmaq, “to befriend, to make peace”)
• ایل باصمق (ẹl basmaq, “to raid (a people)”)
• ایل قومی (ẹl qevmi, “nation”)
• ایل قیران (ẹl qayıran, “one who solves the problems of the people”)
• ایل كون (ẹl gün, “other people”)
• ایل و اویا (ẹl ü uya, “everyone; relative or stranger”)
• ایل و كون (ẹl ü gün, “people”)
• ایل ویرمك (ẹl vẹrmek, “to surrender (a people)”)
• ایل یازجی (ẹl yazıcı, “recorder of people's properties”)
• ایلبوی (ẹlboy, “tribe”)
• ایللك (ẹllik, “friendship; belonging to the people”)
• ایللمك (ẹllemek, “to get a homeland”)
• ایللو (ẹllü, “someone of the same nation”)
• ایلچی (ẹlçi, “delegate”)

Descendants

• Azerbaijani: el
• Gagauz: el
• Ottoman Turkish: ایل (il, el)
  • Turkish: il, el
  • → Armenian: էլ (ēl)

Further reading

• Tietze, Andreas (2009), “el III”, in Tarihi ve Etimolojik Türkiye Türkçesi Lügati [Historical and Etymological Dictionary of Turkish] (in Turkish), volume II, Vienna: Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, pages 578-579
• Kanar, Mehmet (2018), “il”, in Eski Anadolu Türkçesi Sözlüğü [Old Anatolian Turkish Dictionary] (in Turkish), 2nd edition, Istanbul: Say Yayınları, pages 364-365
• XIII. Yüzyılından Beri Türkiye Türkçesiyle Yazılmış Kitaplarından Toplanan Tanıklarıyle Tarama Sözlüğü (Türk Dil Kurumu yayınları; 212)‎^[1] (in Turkish), Ankara: Türk Dil Kurumu, 1963–1977
• Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–), “il”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
• Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007), “il1”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), volume 1, Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 2132

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

ایل • (ẹl) (definite accusative ایلی (ẹli), plural ایللر (ẹller))

1. alternative form of یل (yẹl, “wind”)

Further reading

• Kanar, Mehmet (2018), Eski Anadolu Türkçesi Sözlüğü [Old Anatolian Turkish Dictionary] (in Turkish), 2nd edition, Istanbul: Say Yayınları, page 578
• “il”, in XIII. Yüzyılından Beri Türkiye Türkçesiyle Yazılmış Kitaplarından Toplanan Tanıklarıyle Tarama Sözlüğü (Türk Dil Kurumu yayınları; 212)‎^[2] (in Turkish), Ankara: Türk Dil Kurumu, 1963–1977

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

ایل • (il)

1. second-person singular imperative of ایلمك (ilmek, “to touch”)

Etymology 4

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

ایل • (ıl) (definite accusative ایلی (ılı), plural ایللر (ıllar))

1. alternative form of یل (yıl, “year”)

Further reading

• Kanar, Mehmet (2018), Eski Anadolu Türkçesi Sözlüğü [Old Anatolian Turkish Dictionary] (in Turkish), 2nd edition, Istanbul: Say Yayınları, page 349

Ottoman Turkish

Etymology

Inherited from Old Anatolian Turkish ایل (ẹl), from Proto-Turkic *ēl (“realm”); cognate with Old Turkic 𐰃𐰠 (é̄l), Azerbaijani el, Bashkir ил (il), Chuvash ял (jal), Kazakh ел (el), Kyrgyz эл (el), Tatar ил (il), Turkmen īl, Uyghur ئەل (el) and Uzbek el.

Noun

ایل • (il)

1. (originally) any other person that one's self, others, other people
2. any person or persons other than one's own household, tribe, or nation, strangers
3. tribe, people, or nation; especially a subdivision of a large tribe called ulus

   Synonym: قوم (kavm, kavim)

4. the country of any particular tribe, or ruled over by any particular man or dynasty

   Synonyms: اولكا (ülke), دولت (devlet)

Coordinate terms

• اوروق (uruk, “clan, subdivision of a tribe”)
• اولوس (ulus, “a large tribe”)
• اویماق (oymak, “sept of a tribe”)
• بوی (boy, “tribe, clan”)

Derived terms

• ایلچی (elçi, ilçi)
• تونج ایلی (tunc eli, “Tunceli, a city and province of Turkey”)
• روم‌ایلی (rumeli)
• قارلی ایلی (karlı eli, “Aetolia-Acarnania”)
• قرقلر ایلی (kırklar eli, “Kırklareli, a city and province of Turkey”)
• قوجه ایلی (koca eli, “Kocaeli, a province of Turkey”)

Descendants

• Turkish: il, el
• → Armenian: էլ (ēl)

Further reading

click to expand

• Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007), “il1”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), volume 1, Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 2132
• Kélékian, Diran (1911), “ایل”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎^[3] (in French), Constantinople: Mihran, page 223
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1687), “Regio”, in Complementum thesauri linguarum orientalium, seu onomasticum latino-turcico-arabico-persicum, simul idem index verborum lexici turcico-arabico-persici, quod latinâ, germanicâ, aliarumque linguarum adjectâ nomenclatione nuper in lucem editum‎^[4], Vienna, column 1452
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1680), “ایل”, in Thesaurus linguarum orientalium, Turcicae, Arabicae, Persicae, praecipuas earum opes à Turcis peculiariter usurpatas continens, nimirum Lexicon Turkico-Arabico-Persicum‎^[5], Vienna, column 604
• Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–), “il”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
• Redhouse, James W. (1890), “ایل”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎^[6], Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 302
• XIII. Yüzyılından Beri Türkiye Türkçesiyle Yazılmış Kitaplarından Toplanan Tanıklarıyle Tarama Sözlüğü (Türk Dil Kurumu yayınları; 212)‎^[7] (in Turkish), Ankara: Türk Dil Kurumu, 1963–1977

Persian

Etymology 1

From a Turkic language, ultimately from Proto-Turkic *ēl.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): /ˈʔeːl/

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [ʔeːl]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [ʔeːl]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [ʔeːl]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [ʔeːl̥]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [ʔiːl̥]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [ʔel]

Readings
Classical reading?	ēl
Dari reading?	ēl
Iranian reading?	il
Tajik reading?	el

Noun

Dari	ایل
Iranian Persian
Tajik	эл

ایل • (ēl / il) (plural ایلات (ēlāt / ilât), or ایل‌ها (ēl-hā / il-hâ))

1. clan
2. tribe
3. (Tajik) friend

Derived terms

• ایلی (ēlī / ili)

Etymology 2

Likely borrowed from Azerbaijani ایل/il

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): /ˈʔiːl/

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [ʔiːl]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [ʔiːl]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [ʔiːl]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [ʔil̥]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [ʔiːl̥]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [ʔil]

Readings
Classical reading?	īl
Dari reading?	īl
Iranian reading?	il
Tajik reading?	il

Noun

Dari	ایل
Iranian Persian
Tajik	ил

ایل • (īl / il)

1. year (used only in Turkic year names)

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Arabic أُيَّل (ʔuyyal).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): /ʔuj.ˈjal/

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [ʔʊj.jäl]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [ʔʊj.jäl]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [ʔʊj.jäl]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [ʔuj.jäl̥]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [ʔoj.jæl̥]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [ʔuj.jäl]

Readings
Classical reading?	uyyal
Dari reading?	uyyal
Iranian reading?	oyyal
Tajik reading?	uyyal

Noun

Dari	ایل
Iranian Persian
Tajik	уйял

ایل • (uyyal / oyyal)

1. (Archaic or Classical Persian) deer, stag

Further reading

• “ایل”, in Вожаҷӯ / واژه‌جو [Vožajü] (in Tajik), 2025