მაღვიძარა
“მაღვიძარა” (maghvidzara) — alarm clock in Georgian. Noun, level A2, topic — home and things. gh is throaty, and dz is one fused dz sound: ma-ghvi-dza-ra. In a live sentence: “მაღვიძარა შვიდზე დავაყენე” — I set the alarm clock for seven. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters მ, ა, ღ, ვ, ი, ძ, ა, რ, ა. One of 190 words in the set “home and things” in the Georgian course.
In short
| Written in Georgian | მაღვიძარა |
| Read in Latin letters | maghvidzara |
| Translation | alarm clock |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A2 |
- მაღვიძარაmaghvidzaraalarm clock
How to pronounce it
gh is throaty, and dz is one fused dz sound: ma-ghvi-dza-ra
Why it looks that way
From gaghvideba, to wake up: literally 'the thing that wakes'. To set the alarm is maghvidzaris daqeneba
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.
- მაღვიძარა შვიდზე დავაყენეmaghvidzara shvidze davaqeneI set the alarm clock for seven
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 “alarm clock” in Georgian?
From gaghvideba, to wake up: literally 'the thing that wakes'. To set the alarm is maghvidzaris daqeneba
- 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 “alarm clock” in Georgian?
«მაღვიძარა», read “maghvidzara”. gh is throaty, and dz is one fused dz sound: ma-ghvi-dza-ra. In a live sentence: “მაღვიძარა შვიდზე დავაყენე” — I set the alarm clock for seven. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level A2, from the set “home and things”; written with the characters მ, ა, ღ, ვ, ი, ძ, ა, რ, ა.
How is “მაღვიძარა” written in Latin letters?
maghvidzara. 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?
From gaghvideba, to wake up: literally 'the thing that wakes'. To set the alarm is maghvidzaris daqeneba. 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.