Standard Lemma guide

effendi

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ɛˈfɛndi/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

An educated or well-respected man in an eastern Mediterranean or Arab country; often used as a title of respect or courtesy in Turkey or a former Ottoman territory.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The highest military rank attainable by African soldiers in several British and Imperial German colonial forces

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Africa, historical

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

a former Turkish term of respect; especially for government officials

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: Turk

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish افندی (efendi), from Greek αφέντη (afénti), vocative of αφέντης (aféntis), from Ancient Greek αὐθέντης (authéntēs, “lord, master”). Doublet of authentic.

Across languages

Translations

58 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: efendi — title of respect
  • Arabic: أَفَنْدِي (ʔafandī) — title of respect
  • Armenian: էֆենդի (ēfendi) — title of respect
  • Avar: апанди (apandi) — title of respect
  • Azerbaijani: əfəndi — title of respect
  • Bashkir: әфәнде (əfənde) — title of respect
  • Bengali: আফেন্দী (afendī) — title of respect
  • Bulgarian: ефенди́я (efendíja) — title of respect
  • Chinese Mandarin: 阿凡提 (āfántí) — title of respect
  • Crimean Tatar: efendi — title of respect
  • Czech: efendi — title of respect
  • East Circassian: ефэнды (jefɛndə) — title of respect
  • Finnish: efendi — title of respect
  • French: effendi — title of respect
  • French: efendi — title of respect
  • French: éfendi — title of respect
  • Georgian: ეფენდი (ependi) — title of respect
  • German: Efendi — title of respect
  • German: Effendi — title of respect
  • Greek: εφέντης (eféntis) — title of respect
  • Hebrew: אֶפֶנְדִּי (efendi) — title of respect
  • Indonesian: efendi — title of respect
  • Italian: efendi — title of respect
  • Italian: effendi — title of respect
  • Japanese: エフェンディ (efendi) — title of respect
  • Kazakh: әпенде (äpende) — title of respect
  • Kazakh: әпенді (äpendı) — title of respect
  • Korean: 에펜디 (ependi) — title of respect
  • Kumyk: апенди (apendi) — title of respect
  • Northern Kurdish: efendî — title of respect
  • Kyrgyz: апенди (apendi) — title of respect
  • Kyrgyz: апенде (apende) — title of respect
  • Macedonian: ефендија (efendija) — title of respect
  • Pashto: افندي (afandi) — title of respect
  • Dari: اَفَنْدِی (afandī) — title of respect
  • Iranian Persian: اَفَنْدی (afandi) — title of respect
  • Polish: efendi — title of respect
  • Portuguese: efêndi — title of respect
  • Romanian: efendi — title of respect
  • Russian: эфе́нди (efɛ́ndi) — title of respect
  • Russian: эффе́нди (effɛ́ndi) — title of respect
  • Serbo-Croatian: ефѐндија — title of respect
  • Serbo-Croatian: efèndija — title of respect
  • Slovak: efendi — title of respect
  • Slovene: efendija — title of respect
  • Slovene: efendi — title of respect
  • Tajik: афандӣ (afandi) — title of respect
  • Tatar: әфәнде (äfände) — title of respect
  • Turkish: efendi — title of respect
  • Ottoman Turkish: افندی (efendi) — title of respect
  • Turkmen: ependi — title of respect
  • Ukrainian: ефе́нді (eféndi) — title of respect
  • Urdu: آفَنْدی (āfandī) — title of respect
  • Urdu: اَفَنْدی (afandī) — title of respect
  • Uyghur: ئەپەندى (ependi) — title of respect
  • Uzbek: afandi — title of respect
  • West Circassian: ефэнды (jefɛndə) — title of respect
  • Zazaki: efendi — title of respect
Real reading context

effendi in complete knowledge articles