ბალიში
“ბალიში” (balishi) — pillow in Georgian. Noun, level A2, topic — home and things. A pillowcase is balishis piri, literally 'the pillow's face'. A sofa cushion is the same word; Georgian has no separate diminutive. Sleeping on a high pillow: maghal balishze dzili. In a live sentence: “რბილი ბალიში მირჩევნია” — I prefer a soft pillow. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters ბ, ა, ლ, ი, შ, ი.
In short
| Written in Georgian | ბალიში |
| Read in Latin letters | balishi |
| Translation | pillow |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A2 |
- ბალიშიbalishipillow
Why it looks that way
A pillowcase is balishis piri, literally 'the pillow's face'. A sofa cushion is the same word; Georgian has no separate diminutive. Sleeping on a high pillow: maghal balishze dzili
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.
- რბილი ბალიში მირჩევნიაrbili balishi mirchevniaI prefer a soft pillow
Nearby words: home and things
Room, key, water, electricity. You will need them on your first day in a rented flat.
- სახლიsakhlihouseBoth the building and the home. Sakhlshi means both 'at home' and 'to the house': place and direction share one ending here
- საცხოვრებელიsatskhovrebelihousingInside is the familiar vtskhovrob, I live. The sa-...-ebeli frame makes 'that which one lives in'
- ოთახიotakhiroomOne letter a apart from otkhi, four — and the meanings are far apart
- სამზარეულოsamzareulokitchenFrom mzareuli, cook: the kitchen is 'the cook's place'
- აბაზანაabazanabathroomBoth the tub itself and the room. The room more precisely is saabazano
- აივანიaivanibalconyThe carved Tbilisi balconies are exactly these. A Persian word, kin to the 'iwan' of architecture
- სართულიsartulifloorThe floor nearly always takes -ze: meore sartulze, on the second floor
- ლიფტიliptielevatorSpelled with a p but sounding 'lipti': the p in Georgian is an aspirated p, not an f
- კიბეkibestairsthe k is a sharp k with no puff; compare the kh in kucha, where the puff is audible
- მაგიდაmagidatableWith -ze this word appears more often than without: magidaze, on the table
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “home and things”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “pillow” in Georgian?
A pillowcase is balishis piri, literally 'the pillow's face'. A sofa cushion is the same word; Georgian has no separate diminutive. Sleeping on a high pillow: maghal balishze dzili
- How do you say “floor” in Georgian?
The floor nearly always takes -ze: meore sartulze, on the second floor
- How do you say “room” in Georgian?
One letter a apart from otkhi, four — and the meanings are far apart
- How do you say “table” in Georgian?
With -ze this word appears more often than without: magidaze, on the table
- How do you say “balcony” in Georgian?
The carved Tbilisi balconies are exactly these. A Persian word, kin to the 'iwan' of architecture
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 “pillow” in Georgian?
«ბალიში», read “balishi”. In a live sentence: “რბილი ბალიში მირჩევნია” — I prefer a soft pillow. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level A2, from the set “home and things”; written with the characters ბ, ა, ლ, ი, შ, ი.
How is “ბალიში” written in Latin letters?
balishi. 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 pillowcase is balishis piri, literally 'the pillow's face'. A sofa cushion is the same word; Georgian has no separate diminutive. Sleeping on a high pillow: maghal balishze dzili. 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.