خیلی

Persian

Etymology

From (xayl / xeyl, “squadron of cavalry; (by extension) army”) +‎ (-ē / -i, indefinite article), literally “an army of”. First usage meaning "very much, many" was in Gulistan in 1258.^[1]

Pronunciation

(Classical Persian) IPA^(key): /ˈxaj.leː/

(Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [xéː.leː], [xǽj.leː]
- (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [xéː.liː]
- (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [xí.li]

(Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [xéj.liː]
- (Tehrani) IPA^(key): [xéj.liː], [xéj.le]

(Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [χé.le]

Readings
Classical reading^?	xáylē
Dari reading^?	xēlē, xaylē
Iranian reading^?	xeyli
Tajik reading^?	xele


Dari	بسیار
Iranian Persian	خیلی
Tajik	бисёр, хеле

Adverb

خیلی • (xaylē / xeyli)

very

Adjective

خیلی از • (xaylē az / xeyli az)

many of
(colloquial Tehrani)
xeyli az dustâm filmâye âmrikâi ro dust dâran.
A lot of my friends like American movies.

Usage notes

and are both used in all dialects. In Iranian Persian (xeyli) is used most of the time and (besyâr) acts as a more emphatic version of (xeyli). The opposite is true in Tajik Persian. In Dari (bisyār) is slightly more common but neither word is more emphatic than the other.^[2]
The classical pronunciation of (xaylē) has been lost in most dialects. While the classical pronunciation is still official in Standard Dari,^[3] the pronunciation /xeːliː/ is much more frequent in normal speech.
In the Tehrani dialect, it assumes the variant form (xeyle) when used in the phrase (xeyle xob, “OK”), but otherwise remains (xeyli).^[4]
In the Kulab dialect of Tajik Persian, where the literary form is хеле (xele, ), it colloquially assumes the form хела (xela, ).^[5]

Descendants

→ Mazanderani: خله (xale)
→ Armenian: խելի (xeli), խեյլի (xeyli), խիլի (xili), ⇒ խել մը (xel mə)
→ Kumyk: хыйлы (xıylı)
→ Lezgi: хейлин (ꭓejlin), хейлах (ꭓejlaꭓ)
→ Azerbaijani: xeyli
→ Ottoman Turkish: خیلی
- Turkish: hayli
- → Crimean Tatar: hayli
→ Uyghur: خېلى (xëli)
→ Uzbek: xila, xiyla, xiyli
→ Kyrgyz: кыйла (kıyla)
→ Urdu: خَیلے (xaile)

References

^ According to Dehkhoda, the semantic shift is from Saadi Shirazi's Gulistān:
1258, Saadi Shirazi, Gulistan:
اندک اندک خیلی شود و قطره قطره سیلی گردد
andak-andak xaylē šawad wa qatra-qatra saylē gardad
Bit by bit it becomes an army and drop by drop it becomes a flood
^ “Intro to Tajik Persian”, in Persian Language Online‎^[1], 12 June 2020: “Tajik хеле/ḫele may be more intense than бисёр/bisyār, where as the Iranian خیلی/ḫeylī is less intense than بسیار/besyār. The classical pronunciation of خیلی is ḫaylē, which has not been retained by the common pronunciation of either varieties.”
^ “خیلی”, in قاموس کبیر افغانستان [qāmūs-i kabīr-i afġānistān, The Great Dictionary of Afghanistan] (in Persian), Afghan Dictionary, 2023
^ “خیله خب”, in Vajehyab Multilingual dictionary‎^[2], (Can we date this quote?)
^ Habib Borjian (2014) “Kulābi Dialect”, in Encyclopedia Iranica Online

[Gulistan-1] According to Dehkhoda, the semantic shift is from Saadi Shirazi's Gulistān:
1258, Saadi Shirazi, Gulistan:
اندک اندک خیلی شود و قطره قطره سیلی گردد
andak-andak xaylē šawad wa qatra-qatra saylē gardad
Bit by bit it becomes an army and drop by drop it becomes a flood

[Persian_Language_Online-2] “Intro to Tajik Persian”, in Persian Language Online‎^[1], 12 June 2020: “Tajik хеле/ḫele may be more intense than бисёр/bisyār, where as the Iranian خیلی/ḫeylī is less intense than بسیار/besyār. The classical pronunciation of خیلی is ḫaylē, which has not been retained by the common pronunciation of either varieties.”

[QKA-3] “خیلی”, in قاموس کبیر افغانستان [qāmūs-i kabīr-i afġānistān, The Great Dictionary of Afghanistan] (in Persian), Afghan Dictionary, 2023

[vajehyab-4] “خیله خب”, in Vajehyab Multilingual dictionary‎^[2], (Can we date this quote?)

[5] Habib Borjian (2014) “Kulābi Dialect”, in Encyclopedia Iranica Online

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