ebru
“ebru” — ebru (paper marbling) in Turkish. Noun, level A2. The name is from a Persian word for "cloudy": the patterns really do look like marble or clouds. In a live sentence: “Ebru kursuna yazıldım” — I signed up for an ebru course. You can hear how it sounds right here. A word from the everyday Turkish course, level A2.
In short
| Written in Turkish | ebru |
| Translation | ebru (paper marbling) |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A2 |
- ebruebru (paper marbling)
What it is
Painting on thickened water: drops spread into swirls, are combed with an awl, and the print is lifted onto paper. Every sheet is one of a kind. On the UNESCO list.
This word does not reduce to a translation: the thing it names is not part of everyday life here, so a “translation” would end up a description in brackets. The easiest way to learn it is together with its surroundings — where you meet it and what it is for.
Why it looks that way
The name is from a Persian word for "cloudy": the patterns really do look like marble or clouds.
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.
- Ebru kursuna yazıldımI signed up for an ebru course
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 “ebru (paper marbling)” in Turkish?
«ebru». In a live sentence: “Ebru kursuna yazıldım” — I signed up for an ebru course. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level A2.
Why does this word look the way it does?
The name is from a Persian word for "cloudy": the patterns really do look like marble or clouds. 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.