tərs

Azerbaijani

Etymology

Ultimately from Iranian, such as Persian ترسا (tarsâ, “heretic; Christian or fire-worshiper”), doublet of tərsa.

Etymology note

According to Doerfer, this is plausible because the oldest sense found in Turkic texts was in religious contexts, too.

Cognate with Old Uyghur [script needed] (ters, “adverse; difficult”), Chagatai ترس, Turkish ters, Turkmen ters (“incorrect, uneven, inverse”), Bashkir тиреҫ (tireś, “north”), Kyrgyz тескей (teskey, “northern slope”), and Uzbek terskay (“northern slope; opposite”).

Also from Turkic: Mongolian тэрс (ters), Kalmyk терс (ters) (← Old Uighur), North Levantine Arabic ترس, Northern Kurdish ters (←Ottoman), Armenian թարս (tʻars) (←Ottoman/Azerbajiani).

Räsänen puts tärs together with forms belonging under Proto-Turkic *teŕ-, Common Turkic *tezek (“dung”), which is probably incorrect.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

tərs (comparative daha tərs, superlative ən tərs)

1. opposite, contrary (causing movement in the opposite direction)
2. (mathematics) invers
3. back (near the rear)
4. stubborn

   Faktlar yaman tərs şeydir. ― Facts are a terribly stubborn thing.

Adverb

tərs

1. inside out (with the inside turned to be on the outside)

   Sviterini yenə tərs geymisən? ― Did you put on your sweater inside out again?

2. back to front
3. sideways, wrong, bad

   tərs baxmaq ― to look sideways, to look askance

Noun

tərs (definite accusative tərsi, plural tərslər)

1. reverse (the opposite of something)
2. inside (of a garment)

   Synonym: astar

3. a stubborn or obstinate person

Derived terms

• tərsinə

Further reading

• “tərs” in Obastan.com.