քույր
kʻuyr/kʰujɾ/
The Armenian word for sister is քույր (kʻuyr).
քույր refers to a woman or girl who has the same parents as another person.
Meaning: woman or girl having the same parents (noun)
How does it change in a sentence?
To express possession or definiteness, you can add various suffixes to the word. Adding –ս creates the form քույրս for 'my sister', while adding –դ creates քույրդ for 'your sister'. To refer to a specific sister, add –ը to create the definite form քույրը. For pluralization, the word becomes քույրեր for 'sisters'. You can also combine these rules to create the plural possessive form քույրերս for 'my sisters'.
How do you pronounce it?
The pronunciation is /kʰujɾ/. The first sound is like the [c] in 'can', the middle sound is like the [oo] in 'cool' and the next is like the [y] in 'yes'.
Did you know?
- The word քույր shares a deep linguistic root with the English word 'sister' and the Latin 'soror' as part of the ancient Indo-European language family.
- In traditional Armenian culture, a 'sister-in-law' is not a single word but is expressed using different terms depending on whether she is the brother's wife or the husband's sister.
- In Armenian literature and folk songs, referring to a woman as քույր can sometimes function as a term of respect for a stranger, similar to using 'sister' or 'lady' to maintain social distance and politeness.
Examples in context
- Նա իմ քույրն է։She's my sister.This sentence is useful for identifying a sister using the form քույր.Tatoeba #13576174 by Proxima5, translation #469126 by CK
- Նա իմ քույրը չէ։She's not my sister.This sentence is useful for a negative identification using the form քույր.Tatoeba #13422277 by Proxima5, translation #1903888 by CM
- Դա Թոմի քույրն է։That's Tom's sister.This sentence is useful for showing possession using the form քույր.Tatoeba #13638489 by Proxima5, translation #5583092 by CK
- 54 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Lilian and Artash are looking at a family photo.
- Լիլիան LilianՈվ է այս աղջիկը լուսանկարում:Ov e ays aghjiky lusankarum?Who is this girl in the photo?
- Արտաշ ArtashՍա իմ փոքր քույրն է:Sa im pokr kuyrn e.This is my little sister.
- Լիլիան LilianՆա շատ նման է քեզ:Na shat nman e qez.She looks a lot like you.
- Արտաշ ArtashԱյո, իմ քույրը շատ խելացի է:Ayo, im kuyry shat khelatsi e.Yes, my sister is very smart.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “sister” translations and entries քույր, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
