لیلی

Persian

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic لَيْلَى (laylā). Leylī or Laylī is a spelling pronunciation. The original Arabic pronunciation is now written لیلا (leylâ).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): /laj.ˈlaː/

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [läj.líː]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [lej.líː]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [läj.lí]

Readings
Classical reading?	laylā
Dari reading?	laylī
Iranian reading?	leyli
Tajik reading?	layli

Proper noun

Dari	لیلی
Iranian Persian
Tajik	Лайлӣ

لیلی • (leyli)

1. a female given name from Arabic
   1. The heroine of the romance Layla and Majnun.

See also

Protagonists of Persian romances

• خسرو (xosrow)
• شیرین (širin)
• فرهاد (farhâd)
• مجنون (majnun)

Urdu

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Semitic *laylay-

Arabic لَيْلَى (laylā)bor.

Classical Persian لَیلیٰ (laylā)bor.

Urdu لَیلیٰ

Borrowed from Classical Persian لَیلیٰ (laylā), from Arabic لَيْلَى (laylā). First attested in c. 1564 as Middle Hindi لیلیٰ (lyly /⁠lailā⁠/).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /lɛː.lɑː/
• Rhymes: -ɑː
• Hyphenation: لَی‧لیٰ

Proper noun

لَیلیٰ • (lailā) f (Hindi spelling लैला)

1. a female given name, Layla or Laila, equivalent to English Leila
   1. (fiction) Layla al-Aamiriya (the heroine of the romance Layla and Majnun.)

Adjective

لَیلیٰ • (lailā) (indeclinable, Hindi spelling लैला)

1. dusky, dark (of skin)

Noun

لَیلیٰ • (lailā) f (Hindi spelling लैला)

1. Juliet (a woman who is with a great lover.)

Further reading

• Qureshi, Bashir Ahmad (1971), “لیلی”, in Kitabistan's 20th Century Standard Dictionary, Lahore: Kitabistan Pub. Co., page 554
• “لیلی”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2026.
• John Shakespear (1834), “لیلی”, in A dictionary, Hindustani and English: with a copious index, fitting the work to serve, also, as a dictionary of English and Hindustani, 3^rd edition, London: J.L. Cox and Son, →OCLC