دری

See also: ذرى, درى, ذري, and دري

Azerbaijani

Noun

دری

1. Arabic spelling of dəri

Ottoman Turkish

Etymology 1

From Proto-Turkic *tẹri (“skin”); cognate with Azerbaijani dəri, Bashkir тире (tire), Kazakh тері (terı), Kyrgyz тери (teri), Turkmen deri, Uyghur تېرە (tëre), Uzbek teri and Yakut тирии (tirii).

Noun

دری • (deri)

1. skin, hide, the outer protective layer of the body

   Synonyms: پوست (post), جلد (cild), قشر (kişr)

2. leather, a tough material produced from the skin of animals

   Synonyms: جلد (cild), سختیان (sahtiyan), گون (gön)

Descendants

• Turkish: deri
• → Armenian: տերի (teri), դա̈րի (däri)

Further reading

click to expand

• Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007), “deri”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), volume 1, Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 1171
• Hindoglu, Artin (1838), “دری”, in Hazine-i lûgat ou dictionnaire abrégé turc-français‎, Vienna: F. Beck, page 223b
• Kélékian, Diran (1911), “دری”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎ (in French), Constantinople: Mihran, page 571
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1687), “Cutis”, in Complementum thesauri linguarum orientalium, seu onomasticum latino-turcico-arabico-persicum, simul idem index verborum lexici turcico-arabico-persici, quod latinâ, germanicâ, aliarumque linguarum adjectâ nomenclatione nuper in lucem editum‎, Vienna, column 317
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1680), “دری”, in Thesaurus linguarum orientalium, Turcicae, Arabicae, Persicae, praecipuas earum opes à Turcis peculiariter usurpatas continens, nimirum Lexicon Turkico-Arabico-Persicum‎, Vienna, column 2068
• Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–), “deri”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
• Redhouse, James W. (1890), “دری”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎, Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 899

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Classical Persian دَرِی (darī)

Adjective

دری • (derî)

1. pertaining to court or town

Proper noun

دری • (derî)

1. the Persian language

Further reading

• Redhouse, James W. (1890), “دری”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎, Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 899

Persian

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): /da.ˈɾiː/

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [d̪ä.ɾíː]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [d̪ä.ɾíː]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [d̪ä.ɾíː]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [d̪ä.ɾí]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [d̪æ.ɹíː]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [d̪ä.ɾí]

Readings
Classical reading?	darī
Dari reading?	darī
Iranian reading?	dari
Tajik reading?	dari

Etymology 1

Inherited from Middle Persian [Book Pahlavi needed] (dlyk' /⁠darīg⁠/, “of the court”). By surface analysis, در (dar, “court”) +‎ ـی (-ī / -i, suffix forming adjectives). Compare Russian придворный (pridvornyj) with the same meaning, from the same root Proto-Indo-European *dʰwṓr.

Originally a more poetic or archaic synonym of فارسی (fārsī / fârsi, “Persian”), referring to all dialects. It was officially adopted by the government of Afghanistan in 1964 to refer to the varieties of Persian spoken within the country.

Proper noun

دری • (darī / dari) (Tajik spelling дарӣ)

1. Dari, Dari Persian (Persian as spoken in Afghanistan)

   Synonyms: فارسی دری (fārsī-yi darī / fârsi-ye dari), فارسی افغانستان (fārsī-yi afġānistān / fârsi-ye afġânestân)

   Hypernym: فارسی (fârsi)

2. (original sense, now archaic) synonym of فارسی (fārsī / fârsi, “the Persian/New Persian language”)
   • c. 1250, Zartusht Bahrām-i Pazhdaw, زراتشت‌نامه [Zarātusht Nāma]:

     ندارد بدین خط کسی دستگاه
     بترسم که گردد بیک ره تباه
     همان به که این را بنظم آوری
     بپاکیزه گفتار و خط دری

     na-dārad bad-īn xat kasē dastgāh
     bitarsam ki gardad ba yak rāh tabāh
     hamān bih ki īn rā ba nazm āwarī
     ba pākīza guftār u xatt-i darī

     Nobody has the skill to read this (Pahlavi) script,
     I fear that it shall be lost at one stroke.
     Better that you put it to versified lines,
     In a purified speech and a Persian (i.e. Perso-Arabic) script.

     (Classical Persian romanization)

Adjective

دری • (darī / dari) (Tajik spelling дарӣ)

1. (obsolete) courtly

   Synonym: درباری (darbārī / darbâri)

Descendants

• → Arabic: دَرِيّ (dariyy)
• → Azerbaijani: dəri
• → English: Dari
• → French: dari
• → Ottoman Turkish: دری (Derî)
• → Uzbek: dariy

Etymology 2

From دره (darra / darre, “valley”) +‎ ـی (-ī / -i, suffix forming adjectives).

Adjective

دری • (darī / dari) (Tajik spelling дарӣ)

1. (literary) relating to the valley

   Synonym: دره‌ای (darra-ī / darre-i)

   • c. 1030, Manuchehri, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

     گویی بط سفید جامه به صابون زده است
     کبک دری ساق پای در قدح خون زده است

     gōyī batt-i safēd jāma ba sābūn zada ast
     kabk-i darī sāq-i pāy dar qadah-i xūn zada ast

     You would say the white duck has washed its robes with soap,
     That the valley partridge has dipped its feet in a cup of blood.

     (Classical Persian transliteration)

Saraiki

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈd̪ə.ɾiː/

Noun

دَری (darī) f

1. window

Urdu

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /d̪ʊ.ɾiː/

Noun

دُری • (durī) f (Hindi spelling दुरी)

1. a big bright star

References

• “دری”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.
• “دری”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2025.