Բանկա
“Բանկա” (banka) — jar in Armenian. Noun, level A2, topic — food and drink. A colloquial word that came through the neighboring language and is understood by everyone in a shop; the bookish label word is apake tara, a glass container; no link to the bank, bank. In a live sentence: “Մեկ բանկա մուրաբա գնիր” — Buy one jar of jam. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters Բ, ա, ն, կ, ա.
In short
| Written in Armenian | Բանկա |
| Read in Latin letters | banka |
| Translation | jar |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A2 |
- Բանկաbankajar
Why it looks that way
A colloquial word that came through the neighboring language and is understood by everyone in a shop; the bookish label word is apake tara, a glass container; no link to the bank, bank
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.
- Մեկ բանկա մուրաբա գնիրmek banka muraba gnirBuy one jar of jam
Nearby words: food and drink
A menu, a market, a shop sign, the question “what is this?”. Food is the most frequent subject of the first weeks and the safest excuse to start talking.
- Սուրճsurchcoffeedrinking is one verb for everything: surch khmel, t'ey khmel, jur khmel
- Թեյt'eyteawritten with t', a t on the exhale; with plain t it would be a different word
- Ջուրjurwaterhence jrvezh — waterfall: jur, water, plus vezhel — to pour down
- Հացhatsbreadhats also means food in general: hats utel — to have a meal
- ՊանիրpanircheeseP is a clean p with no puff, unlike the aspirated p'. Armenian tells the two p sounds apart, and the ear has to be trained to hear it
- Միսmismeatdo not confuse with misht — 'always': one letter apart. 'Meaty' is msayin — the vowel drops in the derivative too
- Ձուկdzukfishdz is a single fused dz sound, one motion, not d plus z. Hence dzknors — fisherman, with the u dropped
- Մրգերmrgerfruitthe plural of mirg — fruit: the vowel drops and -er is added. Shop signs print it plainly: mrger yev banjareghen
- Խնձորkhndzorapplethree consonants in a row, kh-n-dz: a little schwa sneaks between them — khənd-ZOR. Stress on the last syllable, as always
- Լոլիկloliktomatothe Eastern Armenian word. In the diaspora and Western Armenian you will more often hear pomitor — both are understood
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “food and drink”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “jar” in Armenian?
A colloquial word that came through the neighboring language and is understood by everyone in a shop; the bookish label word is apake tara, a glass container; no link to the bank, bank
- How do you say “fish” in Armenian?
dz is a single fused dz sound, one motion, not d plus z. Hence dzknors — fisherman, with the u dropped
- How do you say “water” in Armenian?
hence jrvezh — waterfall: jur, water, plus vezhel — to pour down
- How do you say “tomato” in Armenian?
the Eastern Armenian word. In the diaspora and Western Armenian you will more often hear pomitor — both are understood
- How do you say “meat” in Armenian?
do not confuse with misht — 'always': one letter apart. 'Meaty' is msayin — the vowel drops in the derivative too
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 “jar” in Armenian?
«Բանկա», read “banka”. In a live sentence: “Մեկ բանկա մուրաբա գնիր” — Buy one jar of jam. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level A2, from the set “food and drink”; written with the characters Բ, ա, ն, կ, ա.
How is “Բանկա” written in Latin letters?
banka. This is a practical spelling — you need it to read aloud and be understood, not to meet an academic standard.
Why does this word look the way it does?
A colloquial word that came through the neighboring language and is understood by everyone in a shop; the bookish label word is apake tara, a glass container; no link to the bank, bank. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
Can I hear how it sounds?
Yes, right on this page: click the word and it will play. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.