ولایت

Ottoman Turkish

Etymology

From Persian ولایت (velâyat), derived from Arabic وِلَايَة (wilāya).

Noun

ولایت • (vilayet) (plural ولایات)

1. province

Descendants

• Turkish: vilayet
• → Albanian: vilajet
• → Armenian: վիլայեթ (vilayetʻ)
• → Dutch: vilajet
• → English: vilayet
• → French: vilayet
• → German: Wilajet
• → Hungarian: vilajet

Persian

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Arabic وِلَايَة (wilāya).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): [wi.lɑː.jat]

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [wɪ.lɑː.jät̪]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [wɪ.lɑː.jät̪]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [wɪ.lɑː.jät̪]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [wi.lɔː.jät̪]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [ve.lɒː.jæt̪]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [vi.lɔ.jät̪]

Readings
Classical reading?	wilāyat
Dari reading?	wilāyat
Iranian reading?	velâyat
Tajik reading?	viloyat

Noun

Dari	ولایت
Iranian Persian
Tajik	вилоят

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

1. province

   Synonym: استان (ostân)

Descendants

• → Assamese: বিলাত (bilat)
• → Bengali: বিলাত (bilat), বিলেত (bilet)
• → Gujarati: વિલાયત (vilāyat)
• → Hindustani:

  Hindi: विलायत (vilāyat)

  Urdu: وِلَایَت (vilāyat)

  • → Burmese: ဘိလပ် (bhi.lap)
    • → Mon: ဗဳလာတ် (pìlàt)
  • → English: Blighty
• → Kazakh:

  Cyrillic script: уәлаят (uälaät)

  Latin script: uälaiat

  Arabic script: ٴۋالايات

• → Kyrgyz: ылаят (ılayat)
• → Marathi: विलायत (vilāyat)
• → Odia: ବିଲାତ (bilāta)
• → Ottoman Turkish: ولایت (vilayet)
  • Turkish: vilayet
  • → Albanian: vilajet
  • → Armenian: վիլայեթ (vilayetʻ)
  • → Dutch: vilajet
  • → 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), วิลาศ (wí-lâat)
• → Turkmen:

  Latin script: welaýat

  Cyrillic script: велаят

Urdu

Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian ولایت (wilāyat), 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.