ile zurikoa
“ile zurikoa” — grey-haired in Basque. Adjective, level A2, topic — people and family. Literally 'with white hair': ilea — 'hair' + zuri — 'white' + -ko. Grey hair here is just 'white hair' — no poetry. In a live sentence: “Amama ile zurikoa da, laurogeita bost urte ditu” — Grandma is grey-haired, she is eighty-five. One of 143 words in the set “people and family” in the Basque course.
In short
| Written in Basque | ile zurikoa |
| Translation | grey-haired |
| Part of speech | adjective |
| Level | A2 |
Why it looks that way
Literally 'with white hair': ilea — 'hair' + zuri — 'white' + -ko. Grey hair here is just 'white hair' — no poetry
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- Amama ile zurikoa da, laurogeita bost urte dituGrandma is grey-haired, she is eighty-five
Nearby words: people and family
Mum, friend, child, neighbour. The first thing people ask you about, and the first thing you tell about yourself.
- lagunafriendFrom lagun — 'friend' and 'helper' alike: laguntza, 'help', comes from it. A casual acquaintance is ezagun
- familiafamilyA false friend of 'family name': this is the family. The surname is abizena — literally 'added to the name'
- amamomA neutral word. The affectionate one is amatxo. Grandma is amona: the same ama at the front
- aitadadThe affectionate one is aitatxo. Grandpa is aitona: the same aita at the front, symmetric with ama/amona
- haurrachildHaur + a, and the r doubles at the seam: haurra. Children are haurrak; the playroom is haurrentzako — literally 'for children'
- pertsonapersonThe counting unit for people: bi pertsona — two people, not bi gizon. A neutral word instead of 'man and woman'
- gizonamanFrom gizon — 'person' and 'man' at once: Gizon-zuri is what the first humans are called in the myth. Plural: gizonak
- emakumeawomanFrom eme — 'female' plus a native tail. A long, honest word of its own
- gazteayoung manGazte — 'young' in general: gaztea is a young man, neska gaztea a young woman. About wine too: ardo gaztea
- neskayoung womanYou know neska from the basics — 'girl': the same word is a teenage girl. A boy is mutila
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “people and family”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “grey-haired” in Basque?
Literally 'with white hair': ilea — 'hair' + zuri — 'white' + -ko. Grey hair here is just 'white hair' — no poetry
- How do you say “man” in Basque?
From gizon — 'person' and 'man' at once: Gizon-zuri is what the first humans are called in the myth. Plural: gizonak
- How do you say “mom” in Basque?
A neutral word. The affectionate one is amatxo. Grandma is amona: the same ama at the front
- How do you say “young woman” in Basque?
You know neska from the basics — 'girl': the same word is a teenage girl. A boy is mutila
- How do you say “person” in Basque?
The counting unit for people: bi pertsona — two people, not bi gizon. A neutral word instead of 'man and woman'
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “grey-haired” in Basque?
«ile zurikoa». In a live sentence: “Amama ile zurikoa da, laurogeita bost urte ditu” — Grandma is grey-haired, she is eighty-five. Adjective, level A2, from the set “people and family”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Literally 'with white hair': ilea — 'hair' + zuri — 'white' + -ko. Grey hair here is just 'white hair' — no poetry. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.