September 06, 2025

Word Origins | Kafir, Kefere, küffar, Küfr, Küfür, Gavur,


Mavi Boncuk |

KAFIR: from AR kfr kökünden gelen kāfir كافر “dinsiz” sözcüğünden alıntıdır. Bu sözcük Arapça kafara كفر “örttü, inkâr etti” fiilinin fāˁil vezninde etken fiil sıfatıdır.

Arapça sözcüğün anlamını doğrudan kafara "örttü, gizledi" fiiline bağlamak muhtemelen pseudo-etimolojidir. Aramice/Süryanice kafar, kfārā "köy" sözcüğüyle alakalı olması daha güçlü olasılıktır. Karş. Latince paganus "1. köylü, 2. dinsiz, kâfir".

Halk dilindeki gâvur sözcüğü muhtemelen Farsça gabr biçiminden türemiş ise de uygulamada kâfir eşdeğeri olarak kullanılır.

gâvur kefere, küffar [Kutadgu Bilig, 1069]

bular yüḏti kāfir munāfiḳ yüki [kâfir ile münafıkın eziyetini bunlar çektiler]

(ﻛﺎﻓﺮ) i. ve sıf. (Ar. kufr “gerçeği örtmek, inkâr etmek”ten kāfir)

1. Allah’ın varlığına ve birliğine, Hz. Muhammed’in peygamberliğine ve Allah’tan getirdiklerine inanmayan yâhut bunlardan birini inkâr eden kimse: On iki bin kâfir oldu münhezim (Süleyman Çelebi). Demâdem cevrlerdir çektiğim bî-rahm bütlerden / Bu kâfirler esîri bir müselmân olmasın yâ Rab (Fuzûlî’den).

2. (İsim tamlamasının birinci öğesi olarak) Tanımayan, bilmeyen kimse: “Kâfir-i ihsan.” Kendisine edilen lutuf ve mürüvveti anlamaz bir kâfir-i nîmet efendisinin emrine itâat etmez (Sâmipaşazâde Sezâî). A kâfir-i nîmet, sana evlât muâmelesi etmeme karşı bana vereceğin karşılık bu mu idi? (Ahmed Midhat Efendi).

3. Yarı sitem, yarı sevgi sözü olarak kullanılır: “Kâfir çocuk.” “Kâfir araba bizi uğraştırdı durdu.” Tahammül mülkünü yıktın Hülâgû Han mısın kâfir / Aman dünyâyı yaktın âteş-i sûzan mısın kâfir (Nedim). Çekilir mi bu kâfirin nâzı (Muallim Nâci). Hay kâfir cici bebek. Açılmamış yakası (Enis B. Koryürek).

4. “Uğursuz, kahrolası” anlamında küfür sözü olarak kullanılır: “Yezit kâfir!” Vay mel’un kâfir!… (Hüseyin R. Gürpınar).

5. sıf. Dîvan edebiyâtında siyah (renk): Yahyâ beni mi buldu heman kâfir zülfü (Şeyhülislâm Yahyâ). Hal kâfir zülf kâfir çeşm kâfir el-aman / Serbeser iklîm-i hüsnün kâfiristân oldu hep (Nedim – Ö.T.S.).

6. halk ağzı. Müslüman olmayanlara genel olarak verilen ad: “Kâfir çok güzel bir âlet îcat etmiş.”

● Kâfir-kiş (ﻛﺎﻓﺮ ﻛﻴﺶ) birl. sıf. (Fars. kіş “din, mezhep” ile)

1. Kâfir dinli, dinsiz: Bir de ol ifrît-i kâfir-kîş-i küfr-endîş kim / Ana mensûb idi hep erbâb-ı bağy u irtidâd (Nef’î).

2. Zâlim, gaddar: Sülûkümde ederdim gerçi akl u zühdümü derpiş / Beni benden ayırdı neyleyim ol aşk-ı kâfir-kiş (Esrar Dede).

● Kâfirâne (ﻛﺎﻓﺮﺍﻧﻪ) sıf. ve zf. (Fars. –āne ekiyle) Kâfir olana yakışır şekilde, kâfircesine.

● Kâfire (ﻛﺎﻓﺮﻩ) sıf. Kâfir kelimesinin kadını ifâde eden veya tamlamalarda ortaya çıkan ayni mânâdaki müennes şekli: “Fâhişe-i kâfire.”

(ﻛﺎﻓﺮ) Noun and adjective. (Ar. kufr "to conceal, deny the truth", kāfir)

1. One who does not believe in the existence and oneness of God, the prophethood of Muhammad, and what He brought from God, or who denies any of these: Twelve thousand kāfirs are free (Süleyman Çelebi). May no Muslim be enslaved by these kāfirs, O Lord, for so long / (Fuzûlî)

2. (As the first element of a noun phrase) One who does not recognize, who does not know: "Kāfir-i ihsan." A kāfir of ihsan who does not understand the grace and generosity bestowed upon him does not obey the commands of his master (Sāmipaşazāde Sezāî). O infidel, a blessing, is this your response to me for treating you like a child? (Ahmed Midhat Efendi).

3. Used as a word of half-reproach, half-love: “Infidel child.” “The infidel car kept us busy.” You destroyed the realm of endurance, Hulagu Khan, are you an infidel / Oh, you burned the world, are you a fire of sorrow, infidel (Nedim). Can this infidel's coquetry be tolerated (Muallim Nâci). Oh, infidel, a sweet baby. His collar unbuttoned (Enis B. Koryürek).

4. Used as a swear word meaning “unlucky, damned”: “Yezid, infidel!” Oh, cursed infidel!… (Hüseyin R. Gürpınar).

5. Adj. Black (color) in Divan literature: Did Yahyâ suddenly find me, the infidel's lock of hair (Şeyhülislâm Yahyâ). The state of infidel, the lock of hair, the infidel's fountain, the infidel at last / The pleasant climate of the world has always been infidelity (Nedim – Ö.T.S.).

6. Colloquialism. The general name given to non-Muslims: "The infidel has invented a very beautiful tool."

● Infidel-person (ﻛﺎﻓﺮ ﻛﻴﺶ) single adj. (Persian: with "religion, sect")

1. Infidel, irreligious: And that demon of infidelity, who is a disbeliever, who is always a follower of the wicked and the apostate (Nefi).

2. Cruel, cruel: Although I would have kept my mind and asceticism in my path, / What can I do, that love of the infidel, who separated me from myself (Esrar Dede).

● Infidel (ﻛﺎﻓﺮﺍﻧﻪ) adj. and adj. (Persian: with the suffix -āne) In a manner befitting an infidel, in an infidel manner.

● Infidel (ﻛﻔﺮ) n. (Ar. kufr "to cover; to deny, not to believe")

KEFERE: Heathen [1]. Non muslim. Usually a person who does not belong to a widely held religion (especially one who is not a Christian, Jew, or Muslim) as regarded by those who do.

An Arabic word meaning infidel, used to degrade non-Muslims during the Ottoman period. In slang, it means "playful, untrustworthy, rude, shameless dog, bad man." |  Osmanlı döneminde müslüman olmayanları aşağılamak için kullanılan, kafir anlamındaki Arapça kelime.. Argo dilde "Oynak, güven vermeyen, terbiyesiz, arsız köpek, kötü adam" anlamına geliyor..

(ﻛﻔﺮﻩ) n. (Ar.: Plural form of infidel, infidel)

1. Infidels: And the muleteers' group broke the infidels they found in the tents with axes, hatchets, and whatever tools they found (Selection from Kâtip Çelebi).

2. History. Non-Muslim elements: 

Cedlerimiz o kefere Frenk mahallelerinin toprağına böyle nüfuz ederlerdi (Yahyâ Kemal).

 Kefere-i fecere: Çok günâhkâr, çok kötü huylu kâfirler: Kefere-i fecerenin mîmar geçinenleri… (Rûşen E. Ünaydın).Our ancestors used to penetrate the lands of those infidel Frankish neighborhoods like this (Yahyâ Kemal).

Infidels of the Few Days: Very sinful, very bad-tempered infidels: Those who claim to be the architects of the Infidels of the Few Days… (Rûşen E. Ünaydın).

KÜFFAR(ﻛﻔّﺎﺭ) i. (Ar. kāfir’in çoğul şekli kuffār) Kâfirler: 

Gör pîrim küffâra netti neyledi (Pir Sultan Abdal). Bu ilmin lüzûmuna şu delil yeter ki, küffar bu ilimlere önem vermek sûretiyle Yeni Dünyâ’yı bulup Sint ve Hint limanlarına yayılmışlardır (Kâtip Çelebi’den Seç.). Yahyâ (aleyhisselâm) âkıbetü’l-emr küffar tarafından şehit edildi (Ahmet A. Konuk).

(ﻛﻔّﺎﺭ) n. (The plural form of kāfir is kuffār) Kāfirs: 

See what my master did to the kuffār (Pir Sultan Abdal). The following evidence is sufficient for the necessity of this knowledge: by attaching importance to these sciences, the kuffār found the New World and spread to Sindh and Indian ports (Selection from Katip Çelebi). Yahya (peace be upon him) was martyred by the kuffār (Ahmet A. Konuk).

KÜFÜR – KÜFR: (ﻛﻔﺮ) i. (Ar. küfr “örtmek; inkâr etmek, inanmamak”)

1. Sövme, küfretme.

2. Sövme sözü, söverken kullanılan çirkin söz: Küfürler, şarkılar, türküler, lâf atmalar (Orhan V. Kanık). Her bağırış bir küfür (Yâkup K. Karaosmanoğlu).

3. Allah’ın varlığını, birliğini kabul etmeme, dînin esaslarına inanmama: Nihâyet küfre düşüp puta tapar oldular (Kâtip Çelebi’den Seç.). Hocayı inadından dolayı küfürle itham ederek tabancaya sarılır (Ahmet H. Tanpınar). Zîra sağın küfür, solun mâsivâdır (Yâkup K. Karaosmanoğlu).

4. din. İslâm inanç esaslarına aykırı söz: “Kur’an’ın Allah kelâmı olduğunu inkâr etmek küfürdür.”

5. (Küfür ehli – ehl-i küfür tamlamalarından kısaltma yoluyle) Kâfirler: “Küfür tek bir millettir.” Küfrün o sefîl elleri âyâtını sildi / Binlerce cevâmi yıkılıp hâke serildi (Mehmet Âkif’ten).

6. Gerçeği örtme, nankörlük: Çünkü güzelliğin ikmâlini inkâr gibi bir küfür işlemiş olur (Ahmed Midhat Efendi).

7. mec. Arapça’da “gece karanlığı” mânâsına gelen küfür kelimesi aynı zamanda mânevî karanlık, zulmet olarak da kabul edildiğinden dîvan edebiyatında sevgilinin saçının siyahlığını anlatmak için “zülf” ile birlikte kullanılmıştır: Küfr-i zülfün salalı rahneler îmânımıza / Kâfir ağlar bizim ahvâl-i perîşânımıza (Fuzûlî).

ѻ Küfür savurmak: Küfretmek: Eşyâları elinden bırakmadan kırık masaya bir tekme indirdi. Bir de küfür savurdu (Sait Fâik). Bu metin ve kaya gibi sağlam adama ağız dolusu küfürler savurarak en ağır hücumlarda bulunuyorlardı (Sâmiha Ayverdi). Küfrü basmak: Küfür savurmak, küfretmek. Küfrün bini bir paraya: Çok fazla küfür ediliyor.

Küfr-âmiz (ﻛﻔﺮﺁﻣﻴﺰ) birl. sıf. (Fars. āmіz “karıştıran” ile) Küfürle karışık, küfürlü.

(ﻛﻔﺮ) n. (Ar. kufr "to cover; to deny, not to believe")

1. Curse, swearing.

2. The word "swearword," the foul language used when cursing: Curses, songs, folk songs, and slander (Orhan V. Kanık). Every shout is a blasphemy (Yakup K. Karaosmanoğlu).

3. Not accepting the existence and unity of God, not believing in the principles of religion: They eventually fell into blasphemy and became idol worshippers (Selection from Katip Çelebi). He accused the teacher of blasphemy because of his stubbornness and took up arms (Ahmet H. Tanpınar). For the right is blasphemy, the left is nothing (Yakup K. Karaosmanoğlu).

4. religion. Statements contrary to the tenets of Islamic belief: "Denying that the Quran is the word of God is blasphemy."

5. (Abridged from the phrases "people of disbelief" - "people of disbelief") Unbelievers: "Unbelief is a single nation." Those wretched hands of disbelief erased its verses / Thousands of its translations were destroyed and laid bare (from Mehmet Akif).

6. Concealing the truth, ingratitude: Because it would be committing a blasphemy like denying the perfection of beauty (Ahmed Midhat Efendi).

7. The word "kufr" (disbelief), which means "night darkness" in Arabic, is also considered spiritual darkness or darkness, and thus, in divan literature, it is used with "külf" to describe the blackness of a beloved's hair: The cursed tresses of kufr-i lüfn are upon our faith / The unbeliever weeps over our wretched state (Fuzûlî).

● Kufr-amiz (ﻛﻔﺮﺁﻣﻴﺰ) adj. (Persian āmіmiz “mixing”) Mixed with swearing, blasphemous.

GÂVUR: from PE gabr گبر “1. Zerdüşt dinine mensup, ateşperest, 2. Müslüman olmayan, kâfir” sözcüğünden alıntıdır.

Türkçe kullanımda kâfir sözcüğü ile birleşmiştir. gâvur eziyeti, gebr [Sultan Veled, Divan, 1320 yılından önce] ol ay yüzüŋi gördüm, gevr gözüŋe sordum [Mesud b. Ahmed, Süheyl ü Nevbahar terc., 1354] Ki ˁiṣyān deŋizinde ger ġarḳ ola / gevrden müselmāna ne farḳ ola. [Meninski, Thesaurus, 1680] gāur, gāvur pro gebr, vel potius pro kāfir [gebr'den veya belki kâfir'den]. Infidelis.

n. (From Ar. infidel or Persian gebr, "fire worshipper") [The word has passed from Turkish into Balkan languages, German, and English.]

1. (In Muslim colloquial speech) A non-Muslim, especially a Christian: … 

Öyle ya çok geçmedi lâkin aradan / Geldi bir başka gâvurcuk dedi: Cengiz’le ayol / Bu hısımlık nereden çıktı ki siz Türk, o Moğol (Mehmet Âkif). Harzem Hanı henüz İslâm olmamıştı, gâvurdu (Ziyâ Gökalp). Tanzîmat’tan sonra bu tâbirin kullanılması menedilmiş ve memnûiyete rağmen kullananlar hakkında cezâ tertip olunmuştur. Bir müddet sonra neşrolunan bir tebliğ ile, “Gâvura gâvur denilmeyecek” gibi garîbe bile gösterilmiştir (Mehmet Z. Pakalın).

It wasn't long ago / Another infidel came and said: Genghis and the woman / Where did this kinship come from, you Turks, he Mongols (Mehmet Akif). The Khan of Khwarezm hadn't yet converted to Islam; he was an infidel (Ziyâ Gökalp). After the Tanzimat reforms, the use of this term was banned, and despite its disapproval, punishments were instituted for those who used it. A communiqué published some time later even referred to strangers as "infidels" (Mehmet Z. Pakalın).

2. extension. An irreligious person.

3. noun and adj. adjective. A treacherous, cruel, stubborn person.

ѻ To infidel: To spend (something) in vain, to waste. To infidel (someone): To drive someone mad. Infidel torment: A laborious task forced upon someone without considering the trouble it will cause. Infidel invention:

1. An object invented by foreigners that arouses admiration or astonishment among the public.

2. Innovations that do not conform to our traditions and are considered strange. Infidel stubbornness: Absolutely unyielding stubbornness, the stubbornness of a donkey (mule, goat). To become an infidel:

1. To accept Christianity.

2. To abandon religion.

3. adj. To be spent in vain, to be wasted: “I spent so much, but it was of no use, my money became infidels.” Like the dead body of an infidel: Used for very heavy, very cumbersome things. To break one’s fast out of anger at an infidel: To do something that will harm oneself out of anger at someone else, to break one’s fast out of anger at a priest.


[1] heathen Old English hæðen "not Christian or Jewish," also as a noun, "heathen man, one of a race or nation which does not acknowledge the God of the Bible" (especially of the Danes), merged with Old Norse heiðinn (adj.) "heathen, pagan," from Proto-Germanic *haithana- (source also of Old Saxon hedhin, Old Frisian hethen, Dutch heiden, Old High German heidan, German Heiden), which is of uncertain origin.

Perhaps literally "dweller on the heath, one inhabiting uncultivated land;" see heath + -en (2). Historically assumed to be ultimately from Gothic haiþno "gentile, heathen woman," used by Ulfilas in the first translation of the Bible into a Germanic language (as in Mark vii.26, for "Greek"); like other basic words for exclusively Christian ideas (such as church) it likely would have come first into Gothic and then spread to other Germanic languages. If so it could be a noun use of an unrelated Gothic adjective (compare Gothic haiþi "dwelling on the heath," but a religious sense is not recorded for this).

Whether native or Gothic, it might have been chosen on model of Latin paganus, with its root sense of "rural" (see pagan), but that word appears relatively late in the religious sense. Or the Germanic word might have been chosen for its resemblance to Greek ethne (see gentile), or it may be a literal borrowing of that Greek word, perhaps via Armenian hethanos [Sophus Bugge]. Boutkan (2005) presents another theory:

It is most probable that the Gmc. word *haiþana- referred to a person living on the heath, i.e. on common land, i.e. a person of one's own community. It would then be a neutral word used by heathen people in order to refer to each other rather than a Christian, negative word denoting non-Christians.heathenism(n.)

c. 1600, from heathen + -ism. Old English words for it included hæðennes, hæðendom, and a later ones were heathenship (late Old English), heathenhood (late 13c.), heathenry

hoyden(n.) "ill-bred, boisterous young female," 1670s; earlier "rude, boorish fellow" (1590s), of uncertain origin; perhaps from Dutch heiden "rustic, uncivilized man," from Middle Dutch heiden "heathen," from Proto-Germanic *haithinaz- (see heathen). OED points to Elizabethan hoit "indulge in riotous and noisy mirth" in Nares.

paynim(n.) early 13c., painime, paynyme, "heathen lands collectively," from Old French paienime, paienisme "heathen, pagan; Saracen lands or culture or faith," from Late Latin paganismus "heathendom" (Augustine), from paganus "heathen" (see pagan). The original sense is obsolete; the mistaken meaning "a heathen person" (c. 1300, also in Old French) is via phrases such as paynim lands. As an adjective, "non-Christian, pagan," c. 1300, from Old French.

heathenish(adj.) Old English hæðenisc; see heathen + -ish. Related: Heathenishly; heathenishness. Similar formation in Dutch heidensch, Old High German hiedanisc, German heidenisch.

pagan(n.)c. 1400, perhaps mid-14c., "person of non-Christian or non-Jewish faith," from Late Latin paganus "pagan," in classical Latin "villager, rustic; civilian, non-combatant" noun use of adjective meaning "of the country, of a village," from pagus "country people; province, rural district," originally "district limited by markers," thus related to pangere "to fix, fasten" (from PIE root *pag- "to fasten"). As an adjective from early 15c.

The religious sense often was said in 19c. [e.g. Trench] to derive from conservative rural adherence to the old gods after the Christianization of Roman towns and cities; but the Latin word in this sense predates that period in Church history, and it is more likely derived from the use of paganus in Roman military jargon for "civilian, incompetent soldier," which Christians (Tertullian, c. 202; Augustine) picked up with the military imagery of the early Church (such as milites "soldier of Christ," etc.).

The English word was used later in a narrower sense of "one not a Christian, Jew, or Muslim." As "person of heathenish character or habits," by 1841. Applied to modern pantheists and nature-worshippers from 1908.

 Pagan and heathen are primarily the same in meaning; but pagan is sometimes distinctively applied to those nations that, although worshiping false gods, are more cultivated, as the Greeks and Romans, and heathen to uncivilized idolaters, as the tribes of Africa. A Mohammedan is not counted a pagan much less a heathen. [Century Dictionary, 1897]

The English surname Paine, Payne, etc., appears by old records to be from Latin paganus, but whether in the sense "villager," "rustic," or "heathen" is disputed. It also was a common Christian name in 13c., "and was, no doubt, given without any thought of its meaning" ["Dictionary of English Surnames"].

Philistine one of the Old Testament people of coastal Palestine who made war on the Israelites, early 14c., from Old French Philistin, from Late Latin Philistinus, from Late Greek Philistinoi (plural), from Hebrew P'lishtim, "people of P'lesheth" ("Philistia"); compare Akkadian Palastu, Egyptian Palusata; the word probably is the people's name for themselves. Hence, "a heathen enemy, an unfeeling foe" (c. 1600).

sarsen(n.) a name given in the southwest of England to a large sandstone boulder, by 1743, properly sarsen stone, that is, "Saracen stone," from Saracen in the old, broad sense of "pagan, heathen" and thus used generally in the popular mind for the former (pre-Christian) inhabitants of the region.

The same word was applied to the ancient leavings outside Cornish tin mines, also known as Jews' pits, those being the other people formerly credited in Western Europe with any ancient structure of forgotten origin, based vaguely on Biblical chronologies.

proselyte(n.) "one who changes from one sect, creed, etc. to another," late 14c., proselite, "a convert, especially "a heathen convert to Judaism" (in Biblical writings, e.g. Matthew xxiii.15, Ezekiel xiv.7), from Old French proselite (13c., Modern French prosélyte), from Late Latin proselytus, from Greek prosēlytos "convert (to Judaism), stranger," literally "one who has come over."

It is a noun use of an adjective meaning "having arrived," from pros "from, forth, toward" (see pros-) + eleusomai "to go, come" (from PIE *elu-to-, from root *leudh- "to grow up, come out" (see liberal (adj.)).

Martinmas early 12c., sancte Martines mæsse, the church festival formerly held on Nov. 11 in honor of the patron saint of France, St. Martin, late 4c. bishop of Tours noted for destroying the remaining heathen altars.

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