خیلی
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Persian
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From خیل (xayl, “squadron of cavalry; (by extension) army”) + ـی (-ē, indefinite article), literally “an army of”. First usage meaning "very much, many" was in Gulistan in 1058.[1]
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Classical Persian) IPA(key): [ˈxaj.leː]
- (Tajik, formal) IPA(key): [χé.le]
| Readings | |
|---|---|
| Classical reading? | xaylē |
| Dari reading? | xēlī, xaylē |
| Iranian reading? | xeyli |
| Tajik reading? | xele |
| Dari | بسیار |
|---|---|
| Iranian Persian | خیلی |
| Tajik | бисёр, хеле |
Adverb
[edit]خیلی • (xeyli)
Adjective
[edit]خیلی از • (xeyli az)
- many of
- خیلی از دوستام فیلمای آمریکایی رو دوست دارن.
- xeyli az dustâm filmâye âmrikâi ro dust dâran.
- A lot of my friends like American movies.
Usage notes
[edit]- بسیار and خیلی are both used in all dialects. In Iranian Persian خیلی (xeyli) is used most of the time and بسیار (besyâr) acts as a more emphatic version of خیلی (xeyli). The opposite is true in Tajik Persian. In Dari بسیار (bisyār) is slightly more common but neither word is more emphatic than the other.[2]
- The classical pronunciation of خَیْلی (xaylē) has been lost in most dialects. While the classical pronunciation is still official in Standard Dari,[3] the pronunciation /xeːliː/ is much more frequent in normal speech.
- In the Tehran dialect, it assumes the variant form خیله (xeyle) when used in the phrase خیله خب (xeyle xob, “OK”), but otherwise remains خیلی (xeyli).[4]
Descendants
[edit]- → Armenian: խելի (xeli), խեյլի (xeyli), խիլի (xili), ⇒ խել մը (xel mə)
- → Azerbaijani: xeyli
- → Kumyk: хыйлы (xıylı)
- → Kyrgyz: кыйла (kıyla)
- → Lezgi: хейлин (χejlin), хейлах (χejlaχ)
- → Ottoman Turkish: خیلی
- → Urdu: خَیلے (xaile)
- Uzbek: xiyla
References
[edit]- ^ According to Dehkhoda, the semantic shift is from Saadi Shirazi's Gulistān:
1258, Saadi Shirazi, Gulistan:
- اندک اندک خیلی شود و قطره قطره سیلی گردد
- andak-andak xaylē šawad wa qatra-qatra saylē gardad
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- ^ “Intro to Tajik Persian”, in Persian Language Online[1], 2020 June 12: “Tajik хеле/ḫele may be more intense than бисёр/bisyār, where as the Iranian خیلی/ḫeylī is less intense than بسیار/besyār. The classical pronunciation of خیلی is ḫaylē, which has not been retained by the common pronunciation of either varieties.”
- ^ “خیلی”, in قاموس کبیر افغانستان [qāmūs-i kabīr-i afğānistān, The Great Dictionary of Afghanistan] (in Persian), Afghan Dictionary, 2023
- ^ “خیله خب”, in Vajehyab Multilingual dictionary[2], (Can we date this quote?)