zebeş
masculine
In Kurdish, watermelon is referred to as zebeş or şûtî. Wiktionary also lists شووتی (şûtî).
Meaning: fruit (noun)
Ways to say it
| Kurdish | Romanization (Wiktionary) | IPA | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| zebeş | masculine | ||
| شووتی | şûtî | /ʃuːtiː/ | |
| şûtî | masculine |
The word is used to refer to the fruit known as watermelon. In some Kurmanji Kurdish contexts, the Turkish word Karpuz is also occasionally used to mean watermelon.
Which one should you use?
zebeş and şûtî are both masculine nouns used for watermelon. şûtî is specifically the form used in the Sorani dialect.
Is it said differently in some regions?
In Kurmanji Kurdish, the Turkish loanword Karpuz is occasionally used.
How does it change in a sentence?
In Sorani, you can make the word definite by adding the suffix -ەکە to şûtî to say 'the watermelon' (e.g., شووتییەکە).
Did you know?
- In traditional Kurdish markets, the quality of a şûtî is often judged by tapping the rind and listening for a hollow sound, a custom shared across the Middle East.
- The term şûtî is often associated with the peak of summer, and mentioning it in Kurdish conversation can evoke the specific feeling of the hottest months of the year.
- Due to the proximity of different Kurdish dialects, a speaker of Sorani using şûtî might be misunderstood by a Kurmanji speaker who only knows zebeş or the loanword karpuz.
Examples in context
- سامی حەزی لە شەربەتی شووتییە.Sami likes watermelon juice.This sentence shows how to use شووتی in the context of juice.Tatoeba #10562994 by Sarchia, translation #7141228 by OsoHombre
- هێشتا لە خواردنی شووتییەکە تەواو نەبووین.We haven't finished eating the watermelon yet.This sentence demonstrates how to use the definite form of شووتی.Tatoeba #11361025 by Sarchia, translation #1299123 by rahim
- شووتی دەخۆیت؟Do you eat watermelon?This sentence is a simple question asking if someone eats شووتی.Tatoeba #10562998 by Sarchia, translation #9366061 by DJ_Saidez
- 6 more sentences on Tatoeba
Sources
- Wiktionary, “watermelon” translations and entries شووتی, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
