خیلی

Persian

Etymology

From (xayl / xeyl, “squadron of cavalry; (by extension) army”) +‎ (-ē / -i, indefinite article), literally “an army of”. First usage meaning "very much, many" was in Gulistan in 1058.^[1]

Pronunciation

(Classical Persian) IPA^(key): [ˈxaj.leː]

(Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [xéː.liː], [xǽj.leː]
- (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [xéː.liː]
- (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [xí.li]

(Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [ˈxej.liː]
- (Tehrani) IPA^(key): [ˈxej.liː], [ˈxej.le]

(Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [χé.le]

Readings
Classical reading^?	xaylē
Dari reading^?	xēlī, xaylē
Iranian reading^?	xeyli
Tajik reading^?	xele


Dari	بسیار
Iranian Persian	خیلی
Tajik	бисёр, хеле

Adverb

خیلی • (xaylē / xeyli)

very

Adjective

خیلی از • (xaylē az / xeyli az)

many of
xeyli az dustâm filmâye âmrikâi ro dust dâran.
A lot of my friends like American movies.

Usage notes

بسیار and خیلی 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 (bisyār) 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,^[3] the pronunciation /xeːliː/ is much more frequent in normal speech.
In the Tehran dialect, it assumes the variant form خیله (xeyle) when used in the phrase خیله خب (xeyle xob, “OK”), but otherwise remains خیلی (xeyli).^[4]

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
- Turkish: hayli
- → Crimean Tatar: hayli
→ Urdu: خَیلے (xaile)
Uzbek: xiyla

References

^ 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
andak-andak xaylē šawad wa qatra-qatra saylē gardad
(please add an English translation of this quotation)
^ “Intro to Tajik Persian”, in Persian Language Online‎^[1], 2020 June 12: “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.”
^ “خیلی”, in قاموس کبیر افغانستان [qāmūs-i kabīr-i afğānistān, The Great Dictionary of Afghanistan] (in Persian), Afghan Dictionary, 2023
^ “خیله خب”, in Vajehyab Multilingual dictionary‎^[2], (Can we date this quote?)

[Gulistan-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
andak-andak xaylē šawad wa qatra-qatra saylē gardad
(please add an English translation of this quotation)

[Persian_Language_Online-2] “Intro to Tajik Persian”, in Persian Language Online‎^[1], 2020 June 12: “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.”

[QKA-3] “خیلی”, in قاموس کبیر افغانستان [qāmūs-i kabīr-i afğānistān, The Great Dictionary of Afghanistan] (in Persian), Afghan Dictionary, 2023

[vajehyab-4] “خیله خب”, in Vajehyab Multilingual dictionary‎^[2], (Can we date this quote?)

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]