Abbreviations and conventions
What each label on a word page means. The lists here are the dictionary's own: the page reads them from the same tables the entries are printed from, so nothing on an entry is missing from this page.
An entry and its records
An entry is one public head-word page. Where two records share a
canonical head-word they share a page, and their definitions, related
words and tables are combined on it; each record keeps its own identity
behind an entry-<id> link. That is why the dictionary
holds more word records than it has entries.
Parts of speech
A word is every part of speech it has a definition for, not one filed under a heading, so an entry may open with a verb and carry a noun further down. The abbreviation sits before the definition it belongs to.
| Short | Part of speech | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| v. | verb | an action or a state; the entry gives the whole conjugation. |
| n. | noun | a thing, person or idea; the entry gives the cases and the possessives. |
| adj. | adjective | a quality; the entry gives the degrees and the to-be forms. |
| ptcp. | participle | a verb form used as an adjective, listed as its own entry where it has hardened into a word. |
| adv. | adverb | how, when or where something happens. |
| pron. | pronoun | a word standing in for a noun. |
| num. | numeral | a number word, and the forms built on it. |
| det. | determiner | a word placed before a noun to point it out: this, that, every. |
| postp. | postposition | a word placed after a noun, where English puts a preposition in front. |
| conj. | conjunction | a word joining two words or two clauses. |
| ptcl. | particle | a small word carrying emphasis, doubt or question rather than a meaning of its own. |
| intj. | interjection | a call or an exclamation, standing outside the sentence. |
Sense labels
A definition may carry one or more of these after it. They are the abbreviations English dictionaries use, and on the page each one opens its full note when you hover or tap it.
Where the meaning came from
Printed when a sense entered Karachay from another language. The word itself is Karachay and takes the ordinary endings.
| Short | Name | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Ar. | Arabic loanword | This meaning came into Karachay from Arabic, mostly with Islam and the written culture around it, so it is common in religion, learning, law and time-keeping. The word is fully Karachay now and takes the ordinary endings. |
| Pers. | Persian loanword | This meaning came into Karachay from Persian, often by way of trade, poetry and the neighbouring Turkic languages, so it is common in words for household things, trade, feeling and nature. The word is fully Karachay now and takes the ordinary endings. |
| Russ. | Russian loanword | This meaning came from Russian, or through Russian from another European language, mostly in the last two centuries. Such words keep their Russian spelling in Cyrillic and name modern things: offices, machines, school subjects, politics. |
Literal or carried over
| Short | Name | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| fig. | figurative | A carried-over meaning, not the literal one. The word pictures one thing to mean another, the way English "a flood of letters" does. The literal meaning is listed on this page too. |
Still in use?
| Short | Name | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| arch. | archaic | An old meaning that has gone out of everyday speech. You will meet it in songs, epic tales and older books. Learn to recognise it, but use the everyday word when you speak. |
| dated | dated | Still understood, but sounding old-fashioned: the kind of word grandparents use. A modern speaker would usually choose another word. |
| rare | rare | A meaning the dictionaries record but speakers seldom use. It is here so you can read it, not so you can pick it first. |
What it sounds like about someone
| Short | Name | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| pej. | pejorative | Disapproving or belittling. Saying this about someone shows you think poorly of them, so it is not a neutral description. |
| abus. | abusive | An insult, a word thrown at someone to wound. Stronger than pejorative: this is not something you say about a person but at them. |
| endear. | endearing | Affectionate. Used for children, loved ones and friends, and it would sound odd in formal speech or about a stranger. |
| iron. | ironic | Said with the opposite meaning in mind, or tongue in cheek. The tone of voice carries the real meaning, so on paper it can be misread. |
| humor. | humorous | A joking word. It is fine among friends and in light writing, and out of place where the matter is serious. |
| euph. | euphemistic | A softer word chosen to avoid a harsh or taboo one, as English says "passed away" for "died". Karachay does this a great deal for death, illness and the body. |
Where you would say it
| Short | Name | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| colloq. | colloquial | Everyday spoken language. Natural in conversation and messages, but not the word you would write in an essay, a news report or a formal letter. |
| coarse | coarse | Rude or vulgar. Speakers use it, so it belongs in a dictionary, but it is not for polite company, and a learner is safer understanding it than saying it. |
| poet. | poetic | The language of verse and song. It sounds elevated or old in ordinary speech, so you will see it in poems, laments and epics rather than hear it in the market. |
Subject fields
The field a meaning belongs to. A word with an everyday meaning as well carries it as its own sense.
| Short | Name | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| relig. | religion | This meaning is the one used in religion: Islam, prayer, belief and ritual. When the word also has an everyday meaning, it is listed as its own sense on this page. |
| gram. | grammar | This meaning is the one used in grammar, when talking about the language itself. When the word also has an everyday meaning, it is listed as its own sense on this page. |
| ethnogr. | ethnography | This meaning is the one used in ethnography: customs, dress, kinship and traditional life. When the word also has an everyday meaning, it is listed as its own sense on this page. |
| bot. | botany | This meaning is the one used in botany: plants and their parts. When the word also has an everyday meaning, it is listed as its own sense on this page. |
| hist. | history | This meaning is the one used in history: past institutions, ranks and events. When the word also has an everyday meaning, it is listed as its own sense on this page. |
| tech. | technology | This meaning is the one used in technology and engineering. When the word also has an everyday meaning, it is listed as its own sense on this page. |
| anat. | anatomy | This meaning is the one used in anatomy: the parts of the body. When the word also has an everyday meaning, it is listed as its own sense on this page. |
| med. | medicine | This meaning is the one used in medicine: illness, healing and the body. When the word also has an everyday meaning, it is listed as its own sense on this page. |
| mil. | military | This meaning is the one used in military matters: war, weapons and ranks. When the word also has an everyday meaning, it is listed as its own sense on this page. |
| agric. | agriculture | This meaning is the one used in farming and herding. When the word also has an everyday meaning, it is listed as its own sense on this page. |
| sport | sport | This meaning is the one used in sport and games. When the word also has an everyday meaning, it is listed as its own sense on this page. |
| mus. | music | This meaning is the one used in music: instruments, song and dance. When the word also has an everyday meaning, it is listed as its own sense on this page. |
| lit. | literature | This meaning is the one used in literature: writing, verse and story. When the word also has an everyday meaning, it is listed as its own sense on this page. |
| math. | mathematics | This meaning is the one used in mathematics. When the word also has an everyday meaning, it is listed as its own sense on this page. |
| law | law | This meaning is the one used in law and custom. When the word also has an everyday meaning, it is listed as its own sense on this page. |
| zool. | zoology | This meaning is the one used in zoology: animals and their parts. When the word also has an everyday meaning, it is listed as its own sense on this page. |
| econ. | economics | This meaning is the one used in economics: money, trade and work. When the word also has an everyday meaning, it is listed as its own sense on this page. |
| chem. | chemistry | This meaning is the one used in chemistry. When the word also has an everyday meaning, it is listed as its own sense on this page. |
| geogr. | geography | This meaning is the one used in geography: land, water and place. When the word also has an everyday meaning, it is listed as its own sense on this page. |
| phys. | physics | This meaning is the one used in physics. When the word also has an everyday meaning, it is listed as its own sense on this page. |
| polit. | politics | This meaning is the one used in politics and government. When the word also has an everyday meaning, it is listed as its own sense on this page. |
| philos. | philosophy | This meaning is the one used in philosophy. When the word also has an everyday meaning, it is listed as its own sense on this page. |
| astron. | astronomy | This meaning is the one used in astronomy: the sky, stars and calendar. When the word also has an everyday meaning, it is listed as its own sense on this page. |
| arts | the arts | This meaning is the one used in the arts: painting, craft and performance. When the word also has an everyday meaning, it is listed as its own sense on this page. |
The cases
A noun entry declines in six cases, singular and plural, and the last column of the table answers when to reach for each one.
| Case | When to use it |
|---|---|
| nominative | the plain dictionary form — the doer of the sentence |
| genitive | the owner — whose it is |
| accusative | a specific, known object — whom or what |
| dative | direction or recipient — to where, to whom |
| locative | where it is; also having — mende bar, "I have it" |
| ablative | where it comes from; also "than" when comparing |
Reading the tables
Rows are persons and columns are numbers. 1P / 2P / 3P are first, second and third person, and the full name is on the row header. Singular and Plural are the number of the word itself; on a possessive table the columns read One owned and Several owned, and the rows are the owner: my, your, his / her, our, you all's, their.
A conjugation table has a strip of tabs above it, one per polarity. The first four are on every tense. The last two appear only on the two-word tenses, where a “not” has two places it can sit.
| Mark | Name | Example, or what it does |
|---|---|---|
| + | Affirmative | he goes |
| − | Negative | he does not go |
| ? | Question | does he go? |
| −? | Negative question | does he not go? |
| −2 | The other ‘not’ | the second place a “not” can sit in a two-word tense; the English under the cell says which word it denies. |
| −− | Both ‘not’s | both words carry a “not”. |
Two smaller marks appear inside the cells. A second line labelled spoken short form is how the form is usually said rather than written, and the checkbox above the tables turns those on and off. A line marked with a superscript asterisk is a spoken variant, a shape speakers use beside the standard one; the footnote under the table names it. An asterisk in front of a form, in the grammar pages, marks a form that is not said.
How common a word is
The band is counted over our literature corpus, by machine, and says nothing about whether a word is good Karachay — only how often the books we hold use it.
| Band | What it means |
|---|---|
| core | everyday word |
| common | common |
| uncommon | uncommon |
| rare | rare |
| unattested | not found in our literature corpus (dictionary-only) |
A form that the engine can build but that no source and no corpus line attests is marked unattested where it is shown at all. A word whose entry is built from another word carries a built from line naming the source word and the suffix; the suffix links to the grammar page that explains it. Neither mark is a judgement on the word — it says what the evidence is.
Karachay and Balkar
This is a dictionary of Karachay. The two literary standards share most of their vocabulary, and the printed dictionaries cover both, so a Balkar-only meaning is common in the sources. Such a meaning is not published in the Karachay lists, and where a word is Balkar throughout it has no page here at all. Where a form is shown with a Balkar label, the label is the point: it is recorded, and it is not the Karachay form.
Sources and citations
A definition may name the dictionaries that record it. Every work named is listed on the sources page, with its author, year and the copy we read. Spelling and script conventions are on the spelling and scripts page.