ولایت

Ottoman Turkish

Etymology

From Arabic وِلَايَة (wilāya).

Noun

ولایت • (vilâyet) (definite accusative ولایتی (vilâyeti), plural ولایتلر (vilâyetler) or ولایات (vilâyât))

province

Descendants

Turkish: vilayet
→ Albanian: vilajet
→ Armenian: վիլայեթ (vilayetʻ)
→ Dutch: vilajet
→ English: vilayet
→ French: vilayet
→ German: Wilajet
→ Hungarian: vilajet

Persian

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic وِلَايَة (wilāya).

Pronunciation

(Classical Persian) IPA^(key): /wi.laː.ˈjat/

(Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [wɪ.lɑː.jät̪]
- (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [wɪ.lɑː.jät̪]
- (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [wi.lɔː.jät̪]

(Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [ve.lɒː.jæt̪]

(Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [vi.lɔ.jät̪]

Readings
Classical reading^?	wilāyat
Dari reading^?	wilāyat
Iranian reading^?	velâyat
Tajik reading^?	viloyat

Audio (Tajik): (file)

Noun

ولایت • (wilāyat / velâyat) (plural ولایت‌ها (wilāyat-hā / velâyat-hâ), or ولایات (wilāyāt / velâyât), Tajik spelling вилоят)

province
Synonym: استان (ostân)

Descendants

→ Assamese: বিলাত (bilat)
→ Bengali: বিলাত (bilat), বিলেত (bilet)
→ Gujarati: વિલાયત (vilāyat)
→ Hindustani:
Hindi: विलायत (vilāyat)

Urdu: وِلَایَت (vilāyat)
- → Burmese: ဘိလပ် (bhi.lap)
  - → Mon: ဗဳလာတ် (pìlàt)
- → English: Blighty
→ Kazakh:
Cyrillic script: уәлаят (uälaät)

Latin script: uälaiat

Arabic script: ٴۋالايات
→ Kyrgyz: ылаят (ılayat)
→ Marathi: विलायत (vilāyat)
→ Odia: ବିଲାତ (bilāta)
→ Punjabi:
Gurmukhi script: ਵਲਾਇਤ (valāita)

Shahmukhi script: وَلایت (valāyt)
→ Sindhi:
Arabic script: وِلائِتُ

Devanagari script: विलाइत
→ Thai: วิลาด (wí-lâat), วิลาศ (wí-lâat)
→ Turkmen:
Latin script: welaýat

Cyrillic script: велаят
→ Uyghur: ۋىلايەت (wilayet)
→ Uzbek: viloyat

Urdu

Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian (wilāyat), from Arabic وِلَايَة (wilāya). Compare Marathi विलायत (vilāyat), Bengali বিলাত (bilat)/বিলেত (bilet).

Pronunciation

(Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /ʋɪ.lɑː.jət̪/

Noun

وِلایَت • (vilāyat) m (Hindi spelling विलायत)

province, state, realm, inhabited country or region
Synonyms: صوبہ (sūbā), ریاست (riyāsat), مُلک (mulk)
dominion, government, jurisdiction
Synonym: حکومت (hukūmat)
a foreign country, especially one in the West (historically only Europe but now North America as well as other places largely populated by people of European descent)
(obsolete) England, United Kingdom, Great Britain
(historical, obsolete) Kabulistan; Persia

Derived terms

وِلائتی (vilā'itī)

Further reading

“ولایت”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.
“ولایت”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2025.
Qureshi, Bashir Ahmad (1971) “ولايت”, in Kitabistan's 20th Century Standard Dictionary‎, Lahore: Kitabistan Pub. Co.
Platts, John T. (1884) “ولايت”, in A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English, London: W. H. Allen & Co.