წუნდებული
“წუნდებული” (tsundebuli) — defective in Georgian. Adjective, level B1, topic — shopping and money. the ts is sharp: tsun-de-bu-li. In a live sentence: “წუნდებული ნივთი უკან მივიტანე” — I took the defective item back. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters წ, უ, ნ, დ, ე, ბ, უ, ლ, ი. One of 80 words in the set “shopping and money” in the Georgian course.
In short
| Written in Georgian | წუნდებული |
| Read in Latin letters | tsundebuli |
| Translation | defective |
| Part of speech | adjective |
| Level | B1 |
- წუნდებულიtsundebulidefective
How to pronounce it
the ts is sharp: tsun-de-bu-li
Why it looks that way
From cuni, a flaw. cuns debs means 'he nitpicks'. A defect as a phenomenon is cuni or depeqti, and a broken thing is gatexili
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.
- წუნდებული ნივთი უკან მივიტანეtsundebuli nivti ukan mivitaneI took the defective item back
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.
- რა ღირს?ra ghirs?how much is it?Literally 'what does it cost'. The gh is a voiced throat sound, like a French r
- ლარიlarilariThe currency sign is a stylized version of the Georgian letter l
- მაღაზიაmaghaziastoreA borrowing that traveled from Arabic through Turkish. The grocery kind adds a longer qualifier of its own
- ბაზარიbazarimarketA Persian word that came through Turkish. Tbilisi's main market still carries the name
- დახლიdakhlicounterThe shop counter and the bar top are one word. Behind the dakhli stands the seller
- გამყიდველიgamqidvelisellerthe start is not 'gamq' with an English q: the q comes from the very depth of the throat, the lips do not move
- მყიდველიmqidvelibuyerThe same word without ga-: the seller is gamqidveli, the buyer mqidveli — two letters apart
- სასწორიsastsoriscalesthe cluster s-sts frightens the eye but sounds simple: sas-tso-ri
- კილოგრამიkilogramikilogramAt the market they say the shorter kilo. The borrowing took the -i, like restorani
- სუფთაsuptafreshThe basic meaning is clean: supta tsqali, clean water. About bread and fruit they also say akhali — the same word as 'new'
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 “defective” in Georgian?
From cuni, a flaw. cuns debs means 'he nitpicks'. A defect as a phenomenon is cuni or depeqti, and a broken thing is gatexili
- How do you say “buyer” in Georgian?
The same word without ga-: the seller is gamqidveli, the buyer mqidveli — two letters apart
- How do you say “store” in Georgian?
A borrowing that traveled from Arabic through Turkish. The grocery kind adds a longer qualifier of its own
- How do you say “fresh” in Georgian?
The basic meaning is clean: supta tsqali, clean water. About bread and fruit they also say akhali — the same word as 'new'
- How do you say “seller” in Georgian?
The root qid- is selling; gam- turns it into the one who sells
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 “defective” in Georgian?
«წუნდებული», read “tsundebuli”. the ts is sharp: tsun-de-bu-li. In a live sentence: “წუნდებული ნივთი უკან მივიტანე” — I took the defective item back. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Adjective, level B1, from the set “shopping and money”; written with the characters წ, უ, ნ, დ, ე, ბ, უ, ლ, ი.
How is “წუნდებული” written in Latin letters?
tsundebuli. 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 cuni, a flaw. cuns debs means 'he nitpicks'. A defect as a phenomenon is cuni or depeqti, and a broken thing is gatexili. 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.