Karawanserei

German

Etymology

17th century, from Ottoman Turkish كاروانسَرای (karvanseray), كَروانسَرای (kervanseray), from Persian کاروانسرای (kârvânsarây), from کاروان (kârvân, “caravan”) + سرای (sarây, “courtyard, dwelling, palace”). Reanalysed as Karawane +‎ -s- +‎ -erei, whence the feminine gender. Compare the English variant caravansary.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌkaʁavanzəˈʁaɪ̯/, (also) /kaʁaˌvaːnzəˈʁaɪ̯/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪ̯

Noun

Karawanserei f (genitive Karawanserei, plural Karawansereien)

1. caravanserai

Declension

Declension of Karawanserei [feminine]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	eine	die	Karawanserei	die	Karawansereien
genitive	einer	der	Karawanserei	der	Karawansereien
dative	einer	der	Karawanserei	den	Karawansereien
accusative	eine	die	Karawanserei	die	Karawansereien

Related terms

• Karawane
• Serail

Further reading

• “Karawanserei” in Duden online
• “Karawanserei” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache