Կոսմետիկա
“Կոսմետիկա” (kosmetika) — cosmetics in Armenian. Noun, level A2, topic — shopping and money. An international word; a makeup bag is kosmetikayi payusak, while shpar already means makeup — shparvel is to put on makeup. In a live sentence: “Կոսմետիկան վերևի դարակում է” — The cosmetics are on the top shelf. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters Կ, ո, ս, մ, ե, տ, ի, կ, ա.
In short
| Written in Armenian | Կոսմետիկա |
| Read in Latin letters | kosmetika |
| Translation | cosmetics |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A2 |
- Կոսմետիկաkosmetikacosmetics
Why it looks that way
An international word; a makeup bag is kosmetikayi payusak, while shpar already means makeup — shparvel is to put on makeup
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.
- Կոսմետիկան վերևի դարակում էkosmetikan verevi darakum eThe cosmetics are on the top shelf
Nearby words: shopping and money
How much it costs, whether there is a smaller one, whether cards are accepted. A shop forgives mistakes: miss a word and they will show you the thing with their hands anyway.
- Որքա՞ն է արժեvork'an e arzhe?how much is itarzhel — to cost. The question hook sits on vork'an — 'how much' — not at the end of the phrase
- Դրամdramdramrelated to the Greek drachma and older than the currency itself. Price tags shorten it to the sign with a stroke through it
- Խանութkhanut'shopa borrowing familiar to the whole region. The shopkeeper in it is khanutpan, where -pan means 'keeper'
- Շուկաshukamarketany market, from groceries to exchanges: ashkhatashuka — the job market. The Yerevan flea market is more often called by name — Vernisazh
- Վաճառասեղանvacharraseghancountervacharrel — to sell, seghan — table: literally 'a table for selling'
- Վաճառողvacharroghsellerthe same vacharr- root as in the counter. The -ogh ending turns a verb into its doer: 'the selling one'
- Գնորդgnordbuyerfrom gnel — to buy. Do not mix with gnal — to go: one letter, and the meaning is another
- Կշեռքksherrk'scales (weighing)from kshrrel — to weigh. In Armenian the word is singular, whatever your own language suggests
- Կիլոգրամkilogramkilogramat the market people almost always say the short kilo: mek kilo lolik
- Թարմt'armfreshstarts with the aspirated t' — a t on the exhale. The word of the market: t'arm hats, t'arm dzuk
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “shopping and money”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “cosmetics” in Armenian?
An international word; a makeup bag is kosmetikayi payusak, while shpar already means makeup — shparvel is to put on makeup
- How do you say “buyer” in Armenian?
from gnel — to buy. Do not mix with gnal — to go: one letter, and the meaning is another
- How do you say “shop” in Armenian?
a borrowing familiar to the whole region. The shopkeeper in it is khanutpan, where -pan means 'keeper'
- How do you say “fresh” in Armenian?
starts with the aspirated t' — a t on the exhale. The word of the market: t'arm hats, t'arm dzuk
- How do you say “seller” in Armenian?
the same vacharr- root as in the counter. The -ogh ending turns a verb into its doer: 'the selling one'
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 “cosmetics” in Armenian?
«Կոսմետիկա», read “kosmetika”. In a live sentence: “Կոսմետիկան վերևի դարակում է” — The cosmetics are on the top shelf. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level A2, from the set “shopping and money”; written with the characters Կ, ո, ս, մ, ե, տ, ի, կ, ա.
How is “Կոսմետիկա” written in Latin letters?
kosmetika. 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?
An international word; a makeup bag is kosmetikayi payusak, while shpar already means makeup — shparvel is to put on makeup. 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.