محفل

Arabic

Etymology

Noun of place from the root ح ف ل (ḥ f l). Compare Arabic حَفَلَ (ḥafala, “to gather, assemble”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /maħ.fil/

Noun

مَحْفِل • (maḥfil) m (plural مَحَافِل (maḥāfil))

1. place or time of assembly, assembly, council, circle, quarter

   مَحْفِل صُوفِيّ ― maḥfil ṣūfiyy ― Sufi lodge

   مَحْفِل مَاسُونِيّ ― maḥfil māsūniyy ― Masonic lodge

2. meeting, gathering, congregation

Declension

Declension of noun مَحْفِل (maḥfil)

singular	basic singular triptote
	indefinite	definite	construct
informal	مَحْفِل maḥfil	الْمَحْفِل al-maḥfil	مَحْفِل maḥfil
nominative	مَحْفِلٌ maḥfilun	الْمَحْفِلُ al-maḥfilu	مَحْفِلُ maḥfilu
accusative	مَحْفِلًا maḥfilan	الْمَحْفِلَ al-maḥfila	مَحْفِلَ maḥfila
genitive	مَحْفِلٍ maḥfilin	الْمَحْفِلِ al-maḥfili	مَحْفِلِ maḥfili
dual	indefinite	definite	construct
informal	مَحْفِلَيْن maḥfilayn	الْمَحْفِلَيْن al-maḥfilayn	مَحْفِلَيْ maḥfilay
nominative	مَحْفِلَانِ maḥfilāni	الْمَحْفِلَانِ al-maḥfilāni	مَحْفِلَا maḥfilā
accusative	مَحْفِلَيْنِ maḥfilayni	الْمَحْفِلَيْنِ al-maḥfilayni	مَحْفِلَيْ maḥfilay
genitive	مَحْفِلَيْنِ maḥfilayni	الْمَحْفِلَيْنِ al-maḥfilayni	مَحْفِلَيْ maḥfilay
plural	basic broken plural diptote
	indefinite	definite	construct
informal	مَحَافِل maḥāfil	الْمَحَافِل al-maḥāfil	مَحَافِل maḥāfil
nominative	مَحَافِلُ maḥāfilu	الْمَحَافِلُ al-maḥāfilu	مَحَافِلُ maḥāfilu
accusative	مَحَافِلَ maḥāfila	الْمَحَافِلَ al-maḥāfila	مَحَافِلَ maḥāfila
genitive	مَحَافِلَ maḥāfila	الْمَحَافِلِ al-maḥāfili	مَحَافِلِ maḥāfili

Descendants

• → Azerbaijani: məhfil, məhfəl
• → Bengali: মাহফিল (mahophil)
• → Classical Persian: مَحْفِل (mahfil)
  • Iranian Persian: مَحْفِل (mahfel)
  • Tajik: маҳфил (mahfil)
• → Hindustani:
  • Hindi: महफ़िल (mahfil)
  • Urdu: مَحْفِل (mahfil)
  • → English: mehfil
• → Ottoman Turkish: محفل (mahfil)
  • Turkish: mahfil
• → Punjabi:
  • Gurmukhi script: ਮਹਿਫ਼ਲ (mahifal)
  • Shahmukhi script: مَحْفِل (maḥfil)
• → Swahili: mahafali (“graduation”)

Further reading

• Steingass, Francis Joseph (1884), “محفل”, in The Student's Arabic–English Dictionary‎^[1], London: W.H. Allen
• Wehr, Hans (1979), “محفل”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN

Ottoman Turkish

محفل

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic مَحْفِل (maḥfil, “assembly, council”).

Noun

محفل • (mahfil) (definite accusative محفلی (mahfili), plural محافل (mahâfil))

1. convocation, assembly, meeting, reunion, any gathering of persons for a specific purpose

   Synonyms: اجتماع (ictimaʼ), انجمن (encümen), جمعیت (cemʼiyet), درنك (dernek), مجلس (meclis)

2. society, association, club, circle, a group of people who meet to engage in a common interest

   Synonyms: انجمن (encümen), جمعیت (cemʼiyet)

3. mahfil, a tribune in a mosque from which the Quran is recited and where the muezzin chants

Derived terms

• محفل عالی (mahfil-i ʼali, “God's presence”)
• محفل قضا (mahfil-i kaza, “court of justice”)

Descendants

• Turkish: mahfil

Further reading

click to expand

• Barbier de Meynard, Charles (1886), “محفل”, in Dictionnaire turc-français, volume II, Paris: E. Leroux, page 740
• Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007), “mahfil”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), volume 1, Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 3015
• Devellioğlu, Ferit (1962), “mahfil”, in Osmanlıca-Türkçe Ansiklopedik Lûgat‎‎^[2] (in Turkish), Istanbul: Türk Dil Kurumu, page 676
• Kélékian, Diran (1911), “محفل”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎^[3] (in French), Constantinople: Mihran, page 1130
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1687), “Pulpitum”, 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 1405
• Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–), “mahfil”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
• Redhouse, James W. (1890), “محفل”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎^[5], Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 1765

Persian

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic مَحْفِل (maḥfil, “assembly, congregation”), from the root ح ف ل (ḥ f l).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): /mah.ˈfil/

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [mäɦ.fɪ́l]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [mäɦ.fɪ́l]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [mɑː.fɪ́l]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [mɔː.fíl̥]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [mæɦ.fél̥]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [mäɦ.fíl]

Readings
Classical reading?	mahfil
Dari reading?	mahfil
Iranian reading?	mahfel
Tajik reading?	mahfil

Noun

Regional synonyms of "party, social gathering"

Dari	مهمانی
Iranian Persian	محفل
Tajik	зиёфат

محفل • (mahfel)

1. (Iran) circle (of associates, e.g. in politics)
2. (Dari) party, social gathering
3. coterie, assembly

References

• Steingass, Francis Joseph (1892), “محفل”, in A Comprehensive Persian–English dictionary, London: Routledge & K. Paul
• Dehkhoda, Ali-Akbar (1931–), “محفل”, in Dehkhoda Dictionary Institute, editors, Dehkhoda Dictionary (in Persian), Tehran: University of Tehran Press.

Urdu

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic مَحْفِل (maḥfil, “assembly, congregation”), from the root ح ف ل (ḥ f l).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /məɦ.fɪl/

Noun

محفل • (mahfil) m (Hindi spelling महफ़िल)

1. assembly
2. congregation
3. gathering

References

• John T. Platts (9 November 2012 (last accessed)), “A Dictionary of Urdu, Classical Hindi, and English”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)‎^[6]