ولایت

Ottoman Turkish

Etymology

From Persian ولایت (vilâyat), from Arabic وِلَايَة (wilāya).

Noun

ولایت • (vilayet)

1. province

Descendants

• Turkish: vilayet
• → English: vilayet
• → French: vilayet
• → German: Wilajet
• → Hungarian: vilajet

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Persian

Etymology

From Arabic وِلَايَة (wilāya).

Pronunciation

Readings
Classical reading?	w
Dari reading?	w
Iranian reading?	v
Tajik reading?	v

Noun

Dari	ولایت
Iranian Persian
Tajik	вилоят

ولایت • (velâyat) (plural ولایت‌ها (velâyat-hâ) or ولایات (velâyât))

1. province

   Synonym: استان (ostân)

Descendants

• → Assamese: বিলাত (bilat)
• → Bengali: বিলাত (bilat)
• → Burmese: ဘိလပ် (bhi.lap)
• → Gujarati: વિલાયત (vilāyat)
• → Hindustani: vilāyat
  • Hindi: विलायत
  • Urdu: وِلَایَت (vilāyat)
    • → English: Blighty
• → Marathi: विलायत (vilāyat)
• → Odia: ବିଲାତ (bilāta)
• → Ottoman Turkish: ولایت (vilayet)
  • Turkish: vilayet
  • → English: vilayet
  • → French: vilayet
  • → German: Wilajet
  • → Hungarian: vilajet
• → Punjabi:

  Gurmukhi script: ਵਲਾਇਤ (valāita)

  Shahmukhi script: وَلایت (valāyt)

• → Sindhi:

  Arabic script: وِلائِتُ

  Devanagari script: विलाइत

• → Thai: วิลาด (wí-lâat)

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Urdu

Etymology

Borrowed from Persian ولایت (vilāyat), from Arabic وِلَايَة (wilāya). Compare Marathi विलायत (vilāyat), Bengali বিলাত (bilat)/বিলেত (bilet).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /ʋɪ.lɑː.jət̪/

Noun

وِلایَت • (vilāyat) m (Hindi spelling विलायत)

1. province, state, realm, inhabited country or region

   Synonyms: صوبہ (sūbā), ریاست (riyāsat), مُلک (mulk)

2. dominion, government, jurisdiction

   Synonym: حکومت (hukūmat)

3. a foreign country, especially one in the West (historically only Europe but now North America as well as other places largely populated by people of European descent)
4. (obsolete) England, United Kingdom, Great Britain
5. (historical, obsolete) Kabulistan; Persia

Derived terms

• وِلائتی (vilā'itī)

Further reading

• “ولایت”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.
• “ولایت”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2024.
• Qureshi, Bashir Ahmad (1971) “ولايت”, in Kitabistan's 20th Century Standard Dictionary‎, Lahore: Kitabistan Pub. Co.
• Platts, John T. (1884) “ولايت”, in A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English, London: W. H. Allen & Co.