وزير

See also: وزیر

Arabic

Etymology

The original attested meaning is “assistant”, and the political sense only arose in the Umayyad period. Likely related to the verb وَزَرَ (wazara, “to carry, to shoulder”) with the root و ز ر (w-z-r), meaning “someone who carries a burden”, but owing to the idea of assistance by handmen this may be denominal. Likely borrowed from an Iranian term surfacing as Middle Persian [script needed] (wcyl /⁠vičīr⁠/, “decision, judgment”), Avestan 𐬬𐬍𐬗𐬌𐬭𐬀 (vīcira, “arbitrator, judge”, literally “deciding, one who is taking or has made a decision”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /wa.ziːr/
Audio: (file)

Noun

وَزِير • (wazīr) m (plural وُزَرَاء (wuzarāʔ), feminine وَزِيرَة (wazīra))

minister, cabinet minister
vizier
helper, assistant
(chess) queen

Declension

Declension of noun وَزِير (wazīr)

Singular	basic singular triptote
Singular	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	وَزِير wazīr	الْوَزِير al-wazīr	وَزِير wazīr
Nominative	وَزِيرٌ wazīrun	الْوَزِيرُ al-wazīru	وَزِيرُ wazīru
Accusative	وَزِيرًا wazīran	الْوَزِيرَ al-wazīra	وَزِيرَ wazīra
Genitive	وَزِيرٍ wazīrin	الْوَزِيرِ al-wazīri	وَزِيرِ wazīri
Dual	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	وَزِيرَيْن wazīrayn	الْوَزِيرَيْن al-wazīrayn	وَزِيرَيْ wazīray
Nominative	وَزِيرَانِ wazīrāni	الْوَزِيرَانِ al-wazīrāni	وَزِيرَا wazīrā
Accusative	وَزِيرَيْنِ wazīrayni	الْوَزِيرَيْنِ al-wazīrayni	وَزِيرَيْ wazīray
Genitive	وَزِيرَيْنِ wazīrayni	الْوَزِيرَيْنِ al-wazīrayni	وَزِيرَيْ wazīray
Plural	basic broken plural diptote
Plural	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	وُزَرَاء wuzarāʔ	الْوُزَرَاء al-wuzarāʔ	وُزَرَاء wuzarāʔ
Nominative	وُزَرَاءُ wuzarāʔu	الْوُزَرَاءُ al-wuzarāʔu	وُزَرَاءُ wuzarāʔu
Accusative	وُزَرَاءَ wuzarāʔa	الْوُزَرَاءَ al-wuzarāʔa	وُزَرَاءَ wuzarāʔa
Genitive	وُزَرَاءَ wuzarāʔa	الْوُزَرَاءِ al-wuzarāʔi	وُزَرَاءِ wuzarāʔi

Derived terms

وَزِير الْخَارِجِيَّة (wazīr al-ḵārijiyya, “foreign minister, Secretary of State”)

Related terms

وِزَارَة (wizāra)
وِزَارِيّ (wizāriyy)

Descendants

→ Classical Persian: وزیر (wazīr)
- Dari: وزیر (wazīr)
- Iranian Persian: وزیر (vazir)
- Tajik: вазир (vazir)
- → Azerbaijani: vəzir／вәзир
- → Bengali: উজির (uzir)
- → Chagatai: وزیر
  - → Uyghur: ۋەزىر (wezir), вәзир (wezir)
  - → Uzbek: vazir／вазир
- → Gujarati: વજીર (vajīr)
- → Hindustani:
  Hindi: वज़ीर (vazīr), विज़ीर (vizīr)
  Urdu: وَزیر (vazīr)
- → Ottoman Turkish: وزیر (vezir) (see there for further descendants)
- → Pashto: وزیر
→ Classical Syriac: ܘܙܝܪܐ (wazzīrā)
- Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܘܲܙܝܼܪܵܐ (wazīrā)
→ English: wazir
→ Malay: wazir
- Indonesian: wazir
→ Spanish: alguacil, alguazil, aguacil
- → English: alguazil
- → Catalan: algutzir
  - → Italian: aguzzino
→ Swahili: waziri

References

Cheung, Johnny (2017) On the (Middle) Iranian borrowings in Qurʾānic (and pre-Islamic) Arabic‎^[1], Leiden: Leiden University, pages 19–20
Eilers, Wilhelm (1962) “Iranisches Lehngut im arabischen Lexikon”, in Indo-Iranian Journal (in German), volume 5, number 3, pages 216–218
Lane, Edward William (1863) “وزير”, in Arabic-English Lexicon‎^[2], London: Williams & Norgate, page 2939b
Shapira, Dan D. Y. (2009) “Irano-Arabica: contamination and popular etymology. Notes on the Persian and Arabic lexicons (with references to Aramaic, Hebrew and Turkic)”, in Христианский Восток – Новая Серия, volume 5 (XI), Moscow: Издательство Российской Академии Наук и Государственного Эрмитажа, page 182

Pashto

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /wəzir/

Proper noun

وزير • (Wëzír) m

Wazir, Pashtun tribe name

South Levantine Arabic

Etymology

From Arabic وَزِير (wazīr).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /wa.ziːr/, [waˈziːr]
Audio (al-Lidd): (file)

Noun

وزير • (wazīr) m (plural وزرا (wuzara))

minister
(chess) bishop

Chess pieces in Arabic · (layout · text)

شَاه (šāh)	وَزِير (wazīr)	رُخّ (ruḵḵ) – قَلْعَة (qalʕa)	فِيل (fīl)	حِصَان (ḥiṣān)	بَيْدَق (baydaq) – جُنْدِيّ (jundiyy)

Chess pieces in South Levantine Arabic · قطع الشطرنج (ʔuṭaʕ iš-šaṭranj) (layout · text)

ملك (malik)	ملكة (malike)	قلعة (ʔalʕa)	وزير (wazīr)	حصان (ḥsān)	جندي (jundi)