et
/et/
The English word "meat" is et in Turkish.
et refers to animal flesh used as food.
Meaning: animal flesh used as food (noun)
How does it change in a sentence?
The word et changes depending on its role in a sentence. Adding the suffix -in results in etin (of the meat), adding -e results in ete (to the meat) and adding -i results in eti (the meat), which is used to indicate a specific meat as a direct object. You can also form the adjective for "carnivorous" by adding the suffix -çil to the word, creating etçil.
How do you pronounce it?
/et/.
Did you know?
- The Turkish word et is used in the expression etle tırnak, which literally means 'meat and nail'. It describes two people who are so close they cannot be separated, similar to the English 'thick as thieves'.
- In Turkish, the word et refers to any animal flesh, but when people say 'meat' in a general culinary context, they are almost always referring to red meat. For chicken, fish or turkey, Turks typically use the specific names of those animals instead of the general word et.
- While et is the word for food, the word ten is used when referring to the 'skin' or 'flesh' of a human being in a poetic or romantic sense. Using et to describe a person's body can sound overly clinical or purely biological.
Examples in context
- İki kilo et al.Buy two kilos of meat.Tatoeba #5008069 by duran, translation #5001016 by PvtMarc
- Tom et yiyor mu?Does Tom eat meat?Tatoeba #6440921 by duran, translation #6440578 by CK
- Onlar çiğ et yer.They eat raw meat.Tatoeba #4538032 by maydoo, translation #4531549 by Jesse
- 504 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Emre and Merve are deciding what to cook for dinner.
- EmreAkşam yemeği için ne pişirelim?What shall we cook for dinner?
- MerveElimizde biraz et var mı?Do we have some meat?
- EmreEvet, dolapta biraz et var.Yes, there is some meat in the fridge.
- MerveO zaman harika bir yemek yapalım!Then let's make a great meal!
Sources
- Wiktionary, “meat” translations and entries et, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
