الف

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See also: ألف, الق, and ألق

Ottoman Turkish

Etymology

From Arabic أَلِف (ʔalif).

Noun

الف • (elif)

  1. alif
  2. something shaped like an alif

References

Persian

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic أَلِف (ʔalif).

Pronunciation

 

Readings
Classical reading? alif
Dari reading? alif
Iranian reading? alef
Tajik reading? alif

Noun

Dari اَلِف
Iranian Persian
Tajik алиф

اَلِف • (alef)

  1. alif (the letter ا, the first letter of the Persian and Arabic abjads)
  2. (figurative) something or someone erect and tall like the letter ا; (in particular) the beautiful, slender stature of the beloved
    • c. 1390, Shams-ud-Dīn Muḥammad Ḥāfiẓ, “Ghazal 317”, in دیوان حافظ [The Divān of Ḥāfiẓ]‎:
      نیست بر لوحِ دلم جز الفِ قامتِ دوست
      چه کنم حرفِ دگر یاد نداد استادم
      nēst bar lawh-i dil-am juz alif-i qāmat-i dōst
      či kunam harf-i digar yād na-dād ustād-am
      The tablet of my heart has nothing on it but the alif of my love's figure;
      What can I do? My master taught me no other letter.
      (Classical Persian transliteration)
    • c. 1520, Selim I of the Ottoman Empire, edited by Benedek Péri, The Persian Dīvān of Yavuz Sulṭān Selīm, Budapest, Hungary: Research Centre for the Humanities, Eötvös Loránd Research Network, →ISBN, page 188:
      بدل از خار خار هجر الف‌ها
      من دیوانه را سرو سمن بس
      ba-dil az xār xār-i hajr-i alif-hā
      man-i dēwāna rā sarw-i saman bas
      The affliction to the heart from bidding the alifs farewell
      Is enough of jasmine cypresses for me, the madman.
      (Classical Persian transliteration)

Derived terms

  • → Hindustani:
    Hindi: अलिफ़ (alif)
    Urdu: اَلِف (alif)

Urdu

Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian الف (alif), from Arabic أَلِف (ʔalif).

Pronunciation

Noun

الِف • (alif) m (Hindi spelling अलिफ़)

  1. name of the first letter of the Urdu alphabet; alif

Declension

    Declension of الف
singular plural
direct الِف (alif) الِف (alif)
oblique الِف (alif) الِفوں (alifõ)
vocative الِف (alif) الِفو (alifo)

References

  • Platts, John T. (1884) “الف”, in A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English, London: W. H. Allen & Co.
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