Food Vocabulary in Kurmanji: Words for the Table in Kurdish
Do you want to name what you eat and drink in Kurmanji (Kurdish)? This page gathers 22 food words recorded by our teachers: bread, fruit, vegetables, meat, fish and drinks.
Each word comes with its English translation. The words are grouped by theme, so they are easier to remember.
You will also see how to keep apart words that can be mixed up, such as meat and chicken, and then find a few beginner answers.
Food words in Kurmanji at a glance
This page presents 22 words recorded by our teachers. They name bread, fruit, vegetables, meat, fish and drinks. Each word is followed by its English translation.
The words are grouped by theme. Learn one group at a time, and say the words out loud as you go.
Bread, rice and potato
Let's start with three basic foods.
Click the button after a phrase to hear it spoken by a teacher.
- nan: bread
- birinc: rice
- petete: potato
Fruit in Kurmanji
Four words here name a fruit: the apple, the banana, the lemon and the melon.
- sêv: apple
- moz: banana
- lîmon: lemon
- gundor: melon
Vegetables and salad
Here are four words for the garden and the plate.
- pîvaz: onion
- gêzer: carrot
- pamîdor: tomato
- selete: salad
Meat, fish, egg and cheese
This group has five words. Three name a meat or a fish. The other two name an egg and a cheese.
- goşt: meat
- mirîşk: chicken
- masî: fish
- hêk: egg
- penîr: cheese
Drinks, salt, sugar and honey
First three drinks, then three words for salt, sugar and honey.
- av: water
- çay: tea
- şîr: milk
- xwê: salt
- şekir: sugar
- hingiv: honey
Do not mix these up
Our recordings give two separate words for “apple” and “potato”: sêv means “apple” and petete means “potato”. Learn them separately.
Our recordings also give one word for “meat”, goşt, and one word for “chicken”, mirîşk.
How to remember these words
Pick a dish and name its ingredients. For a salad, for example, repeat selete, pamîdor, pîvaz and gêzer.
Then come back to one group a day. Five or six words at a time are enough to make progress.
Frequently asked questions
How do you say “bread” in Kurmanji?
Our recordings give nan for “bread”.
How do you say “water”, “tea” and “milk”?
These three drinks are av (water), çay (tea) and şîr (milk).
How do you say “salt”, “sugar” and “honey”?
Salt is xwê, sugar is şekir and honey is hingiv.
How do you say “cheese” and “egg”?
Cheese is penîr and egg is hêk.
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