خیلی

Persian

Etymology

From Arabic خَيْل (ḵayl, “horses”). [1]

Pronunciation
 
  • (Dari, formal) IPA(key): [xǽj.leː]
    • (Kabuli) IPA(key): [xéː.liː], [xǽjleː]
    • (Hazaragi) IPA(key): [xǽjleː]

Readings
Classical reading? xaylē
Dari reading? xaylē
Iranian reading? xeyli
Tajik reading? xayle

[2][3]

Dari بسیار
Iranian Persian خیلی
Tajik бисёр

Adverb

خیلی • (xeyli)

  1. very

Adjective

خیلی از • (xeyli az)

  1. many of
    خیلی از دوستام فیلمای آمریکایی رو دوست دارن.
    xeyli az dustâm filmâye âmrikâi ro dust dâran.
    A lot of my friends like American movies.

Usage notes

بسیار (bisyâr) and خیلی (xeyli) are both used in all dialects. In Iranian Persian خیلی (xeyli) is used most of the time and بسیار (besyâr) acts as a more emphatic version of خیلی (xeyli). The opposite is true in Tajik Persian. In Dari بسیار (bisyâr) is slightly more common but neither word is more emphatic than the other.[2] The classical pronunciation of خَیْلی (xaylē) has been lost in most dialects. While the classical pronunciation is still official in Standard Dari,[4] it is usually not observed in informal speech.

Descendants
  • → Armenian: խելի (xeli), խեյլի (xeyli), խիլի (xili), ⇒ խել մը (xel mə)
  • → Azerbaijani: xeyli
  • → Kumyk: хыйлы (xıylı)
  • → Kyrgyz: кыйла (kıyla)
  • → Lezgi: хейлин (χejlin), хейлах (χejlaχ)
  • → Ottoman Turkish: خیلی
  • → Urdu: خیلے (xele)
  • Uzbek: xiyla

References
  1. According to Dehkhoda, the semantic shift is from Saadi Shirazi's Gulistān:
    1258, Saadi Shirazi, Gulistan:
    اندک اندک خیلی شود و قطره قطره سیلی گردد
    (please add an English translation of this quotation)
  2. "Intro to Tajik Persian”, in Persian Language Online, 2020-06-12, accessed 2022-12-30, "Tajik хеле/ḫele may be more intense than бисёр/bisyār, where as the Iranian خیلی/ḫeylī is less intense than بسیار/besyār. The classical pronunciation of خیلی is ḫaylē, which has not been retained by the common pronunciation of either varieties."
  3. خیلی in Wilson English-Dari Dictionary, Webonary, 2021-10-06, accessed 2022-12-30, "very- 1) بسیار besIyAr 2) خیلی khElI 3) زیاد zIyAt/zIyAd"
  4. خیلی, in قاموس کبیر افغانستان, Afghan Dictionary, 2017
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