Northern Kurdish edit

Etymology 1 edit

From Proto-Iranian, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *-ikos; cognates include Sanskrit -कस (-kasa), Proto-Slavic *-ъkъ, Latin -icus, Old English -iġ, English -y.

Alternative forms edit

  • -yîappended to vowel-final words

Suffix edit

(Arabic spelling ـی)

  1. Added to nouns and adjectives to form adjectives meaning “having the quality of”: -y, -ish, -like
    av (water) + ‎ → ‎avî (watery, liquid)
    bajar (city) + ‎ → ‎bajarî (urban)
    zîv (silver) + ‎ → ‎zîvî (silvery, argentous)
  2. Added to placenames (or roots thereof) or ethnonyms to form adjectives meaning “of or pertaining to”: -ian, -ese, -ic, -ish
    kurd (Kurd) + ‎ → ‎kurdî (Kurdish)
    ereb (Arab) + ‎ → ‎erebî (Arabic)
    Çîn (China) + ‎ → ‎çînî (Chinese)
    Yewnan(istan) (Greece) + ‎ → ‎yewnanî (Greek)
Derived terms edit

Etymology 2 edit

Compare Persian ـی (-i).

Suffix edit

(Arabic spelling ـی)

  1. Used to derive abstract nouns from adjectives: -ness, -ity, -hood
    qenc (good) + ‎ → ‎qencî (goodness)
    xirab (bad) + ‎ → ‎xirabî (badness, evil)
    sor (red) + ‎ → ‎sorî (redness, ruddiness)
Derived terms edit

See also edit

Etymology 3 edit

From Proto-Indo-European *h₁ésti, athematic root present of the root *h₁es- (to be).

Suffix edit

(Arabic spelling ـی)

  1. Used for conjugation of the second person singular (tu):
    tu dibêjîyou speak
    tu hatîyou came

Etymology 4 edit

Suffix edit

(Arabic spelling ـی)

  1. Added to placenames to make a gendered noun of origin or nationality:
    gund (village) + ‎ → ‎gundî (villager)
  2. his or her:
    ser (head) + ‎ → ‎serî (his head, her head), same as "serê wê/wî"
    dest (hand) + ‎ → ‎destî (his hand, her hand), same as "destê wê/wî"
  3. (oral, nonstandard) Used for present tense conjugation of the third person singular:
    ew dibêjîhe speaks
Derived terms edit

Romanian edit

Etymology edit

Inherited from Latin -īre, the ending of the present active infinitive form of fourth conjugation verbs. Cognate with Spanish ir and French -ir, Italian -ire, etc.

Pronunciation edit

Suffix edit

  1. A suffix forming infinitives of many verbs.

Usage notes edit

  • Most verbs with infinitives in are marked by the once-inchoative infix -ăsc- in many parts of their conjugation, as well as in various derived words; two such verbs are a urî (to hate) and a hotărî (to decide).
  • A sizable group of verbs have infinitives in but do not use the infix -ăsc-, and are otherwise fairly regular; these include, among others, the common verb a coborî (to descend).
  • There is a variant form, -i, derived from the same Latin source.

Conjugation edit

Derived terms edit

Related terms edit

See also edit

Walloon edit

Pronunciation edit

Suffix edit

  1. Indicates a person who does (as a profession) the action described by the root word. Roughly equivalent to English -er.
  2. A verb ending for infinitives.

Derived terms edit