Most people ignore it but Turkish has plenty of loanwords. The 2005 edition of the dictionary of the Turkish Language Association (TDK) counted about 14,800 words of foreign origin. Two languages supplied more than three quarters of them: Arabic with 6,463 words and French with 4,974. Persian, Italian and Greek come next. English, for all the tişört and futbol you see in Turkey, accounted for only 538.
In this article, you will learn what each language gave Turkish and how to recognise its loanwords. You will see why so many “English” words in Turkish are in fact French and which loanwords changed meaning on the way. You will also recognize the Turkish words that resemble English ones by coincidence, like kayak, which means skiing. Finally, you will learn the suffix rules that apply to borrowed words and to English names, where ordinary vowel harmony has exceptions. Hadi başlayalım!
Table of Contents
How Many Loanwords Are in Turkish?
The TDK published a breakdown of word origins for the 2005 edition of its dictionary. The table keeps the six largest sources. Smaller ones include Latin (147 words), German (85), Russian (40) and Spanish (36).
| Origin | Words in the 2005 TDK dictionary | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Arabic | 6,463 | kitap (book), saat (hour, clock), dikkat (attention) |
| French | 4,974 | otobüs (bus), asansör (lift), kültür (culture) |
| Persian | 1,374 | hafta (week), şehir (city), peynir (cheese) |
| Italian | 632 | banka (bank), fatura (invoice), iskele (pier) |
| English | 538 | futbol (football), sandviç (sandwich), klip (music video) |
| Greek | 413 | liman (harbour), fasulye (beans), masa (table) |
TDK lists Greek on two lines, 399 words as Yunanca and 14 as Rumca, so the table combines them together.
Loanwords are not confined to formal writing. Let’s take an example with an ordinary sentence:
- Garson masaya çay, peynir, zeytin ve simit getirdi. (The waiter brought tea, cheese, olives and simit to the table.)
Apart from the verb getirdi (brought) and the suffixes, every word here is borrowed. According to TDK, garson is French, masa Greek, çay Chinese and peynir Persian, while zeytin, simit and even ve (and) come from Arabic.
The same holds for the core of the language: the list of the 100 most common Turkish words includes loans such as insan (person), zaman (time), para (money) and merhaba (hello).
Order that çay in Turkish
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Arabic Loanwords: The Largest Layer
Arabic is the biggest single source of loanwords in Turkish, and many of these words arrived during the Ottoman era. They cover time, learning, law, religion and daily life: saat (hour), dakika (minute), ders (lesson), sınıf (classroom), defter (notebook), kalem (pen), hayat (life), dünya (world), fikir (idea) and sabah (morning).
Two conjunctions you use in almost every conversation, ve (and) and ama (but), are Arabic as well.
You can spot some Arabic loans by checking how they are formed:
- The -iyet ending, as in cumhuriyet (republic), medeniyet (civilisation) and hürriyet (freedom), comes from the Arabic -iyyet.
- Some short words, such as his (feeling), double their own last consonant in two cases: before a suffix that starts with a vowel, and when they join etmek (to do) to form a verb. So his becomes hissi (his or her feeling) and hissetmek (to feel). (check the full rule with the other suffix rules at the end of this article.)
Shared words do not mean shared grammar, though: Turkish fitted these loans into its own suffixes and word order. The article on whether Turkish is similar to Arabic explains the differences between the two languages.
Persian Loanwords: Home, Market and Feelings
Persian supplied fewer words than Arabic, but many of them are also used broadly: hafta (week), şehir (city), dost (close friend), renk (colour), bahçe (garden), şeker (sugar), peynir (cheese), kâğıt (paper), rüzgâr (wind), taze (fresh), zor (difficult) and hoş (pleasant). Even çünkü (because) is Persian: TDK traces it to Persian çūn followed by ki.
Persian hāne (house) also lives on as the second half of place names. It combines freely with words from other languages:
| Word | Built from | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| hastane | hasta (sick, Persian) + hane | hospital |
| eczane | ecza (medicines, Arabic) + hane | pharmacy |
| postane | posta (post, Italian) + hane | post office |
| pastane | pasta (cake, Italian) + hane | cake shop, patisserie |
| yemekhane | yemek (food, Turkish) + hane | canteen, dining hall |
Once you know hane, these words explain themselves: a hospital is the “house of the sick” and a canteen the “house of food”.
French Loanwords: How Your English Becomes Turkish
French is the second-largest source of loanwords in Turkish and the largest Western one. Its loans include much of the everyday vocabulary of transport and city life: otobüs (bus), tren (train), bilet (ticket), asansör (lift), garaj (garage), garson (waiter), kuaför (hairdresser), şoför (driver) and kuzen (cousin).
Many of these words arrived in the 19th century, when the Ottoman state turned to Europe to reform itself. In 1821, it set up a Translation Office (Tercüme Odası) to train its own translators, and from 1833 the office taught European languages, French above all. Back then, French was one of the best sources of Western education in Istanbul. The men trained there, fluent in French, went on to lead the reforms.
The idiom Fransız kalmak (literally “to remain French”) is often linked to that period. TDK defines it as being unable to understand what is being explained. One explanation traces it to the late Ottoman elite, fluent in French but not able to hold an everyday Turkish conversation with the common folks.
- Hoca konuyu iki kez anlattı ama ben yine Fransız kaldım. (The teacher explained the topic twice, but I still didn’t follow a word.)
For an English speaker, this layer is the easiest to learn. Many French loans have close English relatives, and the endings change in regular ways. Turkish spelled these words as they sound in French, so they follow French pronunciation rather than English spelling:
| English ending | Turkish ending | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| -tion | -syon | organizasyon, istasyon, enflasyon |
| -ty | -te | kalite, üniversite |
| -ic | -ik | elektrik, klasik, komik |
| -ism | -izm | turizm |
| -ive | -if | aktif, pozitif |
| -ure | -ür | kültür |
| -or, -eur | -ör | aktör, direktör, asansör |
| -y, -cy | -i, -si | ekonomi, demokrasi |
| -logy | -loji | biyoloji, teknoloji |
| ph | f | fotoğraf |
| ch (said “sh”) | ş | şef, şans |
Be careful: several French loans shifted, as the section on changed meanings shows.
English Loanwords: Fewer Than They Look
TDK’s 2005 count credited English with 538 words, under a ninth of the French total. Football alone supplies a whole family of them: futbol, gol (goal), faul (foul), korner (corner kick), penaltı (penalty), ofsayt (offside), frikik (free kick) and aut (out of play). For the wider vocabulary of sport, see the article on sport vocabulary in Turkish.
- Hakem son dakikada penaltı verdi. (The referee gave a penalty in the last minute.)
Food, clothing and media add more: sandviç, ketçap, kek (sponge or loaf cake), tişört, şort (shorts), blucin (jeans), caz (jazz), disko, blog and stres.
Turkish respells English words by ear, so a handful of sound correspondences lets you predict most spellings. The Turkish pronunciation guide covers the letters themselves.
| English sound | Turkish letter | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| sh | ş | şort, şov (show) |
| ch | ç | sandviç, ketçap |
| j | c | caz |
| w | v | sandviç, viski |
| final -y | -i or -ı | hobi, penaltı |
| vowels | as heard | tişört, ofsayt, frikik |
English Words That Came Through French
Many words that look English reached Turkish through French. French had borrowed them from English first, and Turkish then took them from French. TDK records all of these as French:
| Turkish | English original | Meaning in Turkish |
|---|---|---|
| maç | match | match, game |
| kulüp | club | club |
| lider | leader | leader |
| menajer | manager | manager |
| centilmen | gentleman | gentleman |
| kovboy | cowboy | cowboy |
| tünel | tunnel | tunnel |
| tramvay | tramway | tram |
| spiker | speaker | news presenter |
| smokin | smoking (jacket) | tuxedo |
The detour also explains two odd meanings. In French, speaker came to mean a radio or television announcer and smoking a dinner jacket, and Turkish inherited both senses. A Turkish spiker reads the news, and a smokin is what you wear to a gala.
Loanwords That Changed Meaning
The words below look familiar to an English speaker but mean something else in Turkish. The last column gives the Turkish word to use for the English meaning.
| Turkish | From | Meaning in Turkish | For the English sense |
|---|---|---|---|
| miting | English meeting | political rally, demonstration | toplantı (meeting) |
| spiker | French speaker | news presenter, announcer | konuşmacı (speaker at an event) |
| magazin | French magazine | celebrity news; also a popular illustrated publication | dergi (magazine, journal) |
| apartman | French appartement | block of flats, apartment building | daire (flat, apartment) |
| site | French cité | gated housing estate; also a website | site (website) |
| sempatik | French sympathique | likeable, warm | anlayışlı (sympathetic, understanding) |
| aktüel | French actuel | current, topical | gerçek (actual, real) |
| ajanda | French agenda | diary, planner | gündem (agenda of a meeting) |
| kolej | French collège | school with intensive foreign-language teaching | üniversite (college, university) |
| pansiyon | French pension | guesthouse | emekli aylığı (pension) |
| kondisyon | French condition | physical fitness | durum (condition, situation) |
| mayo | French maillot | swimsuit | mayonez (mayonnaise) |
| reçete | Italian ricetta | medical prescription | tarif (recipe), fiş (receipt) |
| pasta | Italian pasta | cake, gâteau | makarna (pasta) |
| market | English market | grocery shop, supermarket | pazar (open-air market) |
| ekstre | French extrait | bank or credit card statement | ekstra (extra) |
| staj | French stage | internship, work placement | sahne (stage in a theatre) |
| promosyon | French promotion | free gift with a purchase, branded giveaway | terfi (promotion at work) |
| lokal | French local | association clubhouse; also a nightspot | yerel (local) |
| kampanya | Italian campagna | discount sale, special offer; also a campaign | kampanya (campaign) |
| rapor | French rapport | doctor’s note for sick leave; also a report | rapor (report) |
| not | French note | school grade; also a written note | not (note) |
| naylon | French nylon | nylon; also fake, sham | naylon (nylon) |
| pikap | English pick-up | record player; also a pickup truck | pikap (pickup truck) |
| bot | French botte, English boat | boots; also a small boat | bot (boat) |
The apartman case deserves special attention because it changes how you describe your home. A Turkish apartman is the whole building, and the home you rent inside is a daire.
- Meydanda büyük bir miting vardı. (There was a big rally in the square.)
- Bu apartmanda on iki daire var. (There are twelve flats in this building.)
- Yeni komşum çok sempatik. (My new neighbour is very likeable.)
False Friends: Turkish Words That Resemble English by Coincidence
Other words resemble English by pure coincidence. Most are native Turkish, a few, such as kin, ham and ten, are Persian, and an is Arabic. None has any link with the English word it resembles.
| Turkish | Meaning |
|---|---|
| kayak | ski, skiing |
| boy | height, size |
| bay | Mr., gentleman |
| son | last, end |
| pis | dirty |
| deli | crazy |
| kin | grudge |
| ham | unripe, raw |
| ten | skin, complexion |
| top | ball |
| dip | bottom |
| on | ten |
| kim | who |
| git | go (command) |
| bin | thousand |
| el | hand |
| kol | arm |
| kat | floor, storey |
| an | moment, instant |
Kayak is the one to remember before a winter trip: in Turkish it means skis, not a boat. The narrow boat you paddle is a kano.
- Kışın kayak yapmayı seviyorum. (I love skiing in winter.)
- Kardeşimin boyu çok uzun. (My brother is very tall.)
These traps concern vocabulary. For the grammar mistakes English speakers make, see the 12 common Turkish mistakes English speakers make.
Old Loans and Their Turkish Replacements
The TDK was founded in 1932, and one of its first tasks was a language reform meant to replace Arabic and Persian loans with Turkish-based words. In 1935, it published the proposed words in a pocket guide, the Türkçeden Osmanlıcaya Cep Kılavuzu, which runs to 8,107 headwords. A 2021 study by Hanifi Vural compared them with today’s TDK dictionary and found that 1,175 of them are no longer in use. For an overview in English, Wikipedia keeps a list of replaced loanwords in Turkish.
The result is a set of pairs that you will meet side by side. TDK’s current dictionary shows how each pair settled. It marks a few old loans as archaic and sends the reader from most others to the newer word. In some pairs, though, the loan kept the main entry.
| Loan | Turkish-based word | Meaning | In the TDK dictionary today |
|---|---|---|---|
| kelime | sözcük | word | kelime is the main entry |
| cevap | yanıt | answer | cevap is the main entry |
| misal | örnek | example | points to örnek |
| imtihan | sınav | exam | points to sınav |
| talebe | öğrenci | student | points to öğrenci |
| hürriyet | özgürlük | freedom | points to özgürlük |
| mektep | okul | school | marked archaic |
| sual | soru | question | marked archaic |
Learn both words of the first six pairs. Neither form is marked archaic, so expect to meet both. Newspaper articles use a lot of the old loan forms.
How to Add Suffixes to Loanwords and English Names
Turkish suffixes normally follow vowel harmony: the suffix vowel matches the last vowel of the word. Borrowed words add three special cases.
1. Front Suffixes After Some Back-Vowel Loans
Some loanwords end in a back vowel but take front-vowel suffixes. TDK’s spelling rules list them and explain why: their last vowel is a back vowel, but their final sound is pronounced as a front one. The list includes:
- saat (hour, clock) → saate
- kontrol (check, control) → kontrolü
- alkol (alcohol) → alkolü
- kabul (acceptance) → kabulü
- hakikat (truth) → hakikati
Examples:
- Sınavda sürekli saate baktım. (I kept looking at the clock during the exam.)
- Havalimanında pasaport kontrolü uzun sürdü. (Passport control at the airport took a long time.)
2. Doubled Consonants
Some short Arabic loans double their own final consonant in two cases: before a suffix that starts with a vowel, and when they join etmek to form a verb. Etmek itself never changes: the extra letter belongs to the noun.
TDK’s spelling rules explain why: in Arabic these words end in a double consonant, which Turkish drops at the end of the word and restores before a vowel or an auxiliary verb such as etmek. Its dictionary records the doubled forms:
- his (feeling) → hissetmek (to feel)
- af (pardon) → affetmek (to forgive)
- ret (refusal) → reddetmek (to refuse)
- zan (assumption) → zannetmek (to suppose)
- hak (right) → hakkı (his or her right)
The three verbs in use:
- Bugün kendimi çok iyi hissediyorum. (I feel very good today.)
- Lütfen beni affet, geç kaldım. (Please forgive me, I’m late.)
- Teklifi kibarca reddetti. (She politely turned down the offer.)
English Names and Abbreviations
TDK’s rule for foreign proper names is short: the suffix follows the pronunciation of the name, not its spelling. One of its own examples is United’a, with -a, because the last vowel you hear is not the e you see. So say the name the Turkish way first, then pick the suffix. The consonant harmony rules apply too, which is why Netflix, ending in a voiceless “s” sound, takes -te rather than -de.
- Bu bilgiyi Google’da buldum. (I found this information on Google.)
- Akşam Netflix’te bir dizi izledim. (In the evening, I watched a series on Netflix.)
- Yarın United’ın maçı var. (United have a match tomorrow.)
Abbreviations follow a related rule. When an abbreviation is read letter by letter, the suffix follows the Turkish name of the last letter: TDK’den, THY’de. When it is read as a word, the suffix follows that word: NATO’dan, UNESCO’ya.
Conclusion
From Arabic saat to French otobüs and English penaltı, loanwords in Turkish follow patterns you can learn. Most Western words arrived through French, many changed meaning on the way, and a few suffix rules apply only to borrowed words. Knowing where a word comes from tells you how to spell it, which suffix it takes and when its English look will mislead you.
That knowledge pays off every time you open a Turkish menu, a newspaper or a street sign. To practise these words in real sentences, try the lessons and graded readers on TurkishFluent.
