sirk
“sirk” — circus in Turkish. Noun, level A1, topic — buildings and premises. A French loanword: it refuses harmony and takes its tail by the last vowel — sirk becomes sirke. In a live sentence: “Şehre sirk geldi” — A circus came to town. You can hear how it sounds right here. One of 22 words in the set “buildings and premises” in the Turkish course.
In short
| Written in Turkish | sirk |
| Translation | circus |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A1 |
- sirkcircus
Why it looks that way
A French loanword: it refuses harmony and takes its tail by the last vowel — sirk becomes sirke.
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.
- Şehre sirk geldiA circus came to town
Nearby words: buildings and premises
Where to go and what is done there. These words are read off a sign more often than they are spoken.
- lokantacanteenSimple, unpretentious food — a lunch counter or an inexpensive eatery. The pricier kind of place is called restoran.
- dükkânshopA small shop, a street-front store. The chain grocery is market, the mall is AVM.
- istasyonstationBoth a train station and a metro or commuter stop. The grand railway terminal gets the word gar — Haydarpaşa Garı.
- pazarstreet marketThe same word means "Sunday": the neighborhood market was set up on Sundays and the day took its name from it. To speak of the day, people say pazar günü.
- bankabankDo not confuse with banko — that is a counter, a desk in an office. Both words are Italian, but in Turkish they split into two.
- eczanepharmacyc sounds like "j" in "jam": ej-za-NE
- marketgrocery storeThe corner shop. The big one is süpermarket, and the tiny counter shop is a bakkal.
- hastanehospitalhasta is "a sick person", -hane "a house": "the house of the sick". The same -hane in the familiar eczane and postane.
- ofisofficeFrom English. The boss's room has its own name — müdür odası, with the familiar oda.
- üniversiteuniversityTo study at one is üniversitede okumak, with the same okumak as "to read".
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “buildings and premises”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “circus” in Turkish?
A French loanword: it refuses harmony and takes its tail by the last vowel — sirk becomes sirke.
- How do you say “grocery store” in Turkish?
The corner shop. The big one is süpermarket, and the tiny counter shop is a bakkal.
- How do you say “station” in Turkish?
Both a train station and a metro or commuter stop. The grand railway terminal gets the word gar — Haydarpaşa Garı.
- How do you say “university” in Turkish?
To study at one is üniversitede okumak, with the same okumak as "to read".
- How do you say “pharmacy” in Turkish?
The Persian tail -hane ("house, establishment") wore down to -ane: ecza ("medicines") plus house. hastane ("hospital") and postane ("post office") are built the same way.
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 “circus” in Turkish?
«sirk». In a live sentence: “Şehre sirk geldi” — A circus came to town. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level A1, from the set “buildings and premises”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
A French loanword: it refuses harmony and takes its tail by the last vowel — sirk becomes sirke. 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.