makas
“makas” — scissors in Turkish. Noun, level A2, topic — home and things. old Turkic, kin to "to cut" words: the cutter. Paper, hair and gift ribbon. In a live sentence: “Makası bana uzatır mısın?” — Will you hand me the scissors? You can hear how it sounds right here. One of 194 words in the set “home and things” in the Turkish course.
In short
| Written in Turkish | makas |
| Translation | scissors |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A2 |
- makasscissors
Why it looks that way
old Turkic, kin to "to cut" words: the cutter. Paper, hair and gift ribbon
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.
- Makası bana uzatır mısın?Will you hand me the scissors?
Nearby words: home and things
Room, key, water, electricity. You will need them on your first day in a rented flat.
- evhome"To home" is eve, "at home" is evde. Direction and place take different endings.
- daireapartmentA flat in a building — this is the word in every rental ad. daire is also "a circle" in geometry.
- odaroomThe root of "odalisque" — "the woman of the room". Flats are counted by rooms: "2+1" means two rooms and a living room.
- mutfakkitchenBoth the room and the cuisine: Türk mutfağı is "Turkish cuisine". The k in the middle softens into ğ.
- banyobathroomItalian bagno. Both the room and the washing itself: banyo yapmak is "to take a bath".
- balkonbalconyA French loanword — Turkish has hundreds like it: balkon, asansör, kuaför, şoför.
- katfloor (story)Both a floor of a building and a layer: kat kat is "in layers". The ground floor is usually zemin kat — "on the ground".
- asansörelevatorö with rounded lips, tongue as for "e": a-san-SUR
- merdivenstairsThe staircase in the building and a step ladder alike. merdivenle is "by stairs", on foot.
- masatableFrom Greek. masada is "on the table": the same -da ending as in the familiar evde.
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 “scissors” in Turkish?
old Turkic, kin to "to cut" words: the cutter. Paper, hair and gift ribbon
- How do you say “floor (story)” in Turkish?
Both a floor of a building and a layer: kat kat is "in layers". The ground floor is usually zemin kat — "on the ground".
- How do you say “room” in Turkish?
The root of "odalisque" — "the woman of the room". Flats are counted by rooms: "2+1" means two rooms and a living room.
- How do you say “table” in Turkish?
From Greek. masada is "on the table": the same -da ending as in the familiar evde.
- How do you say “balcony” in Turkish?
A French loanword — Turkish has hundreds like it: balkon, asansör, kuaför, şoför.
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 “scissors” in Turkish?
«makas». In a live sentence: “Makası bana uzatır mısın?” — Will you hand me the scissors? You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level A2, from the set “home and things”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
old Turkic, kin to "to cut" words: the cutter. Paper, hair and gift ribbon. 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.