The Turkish technical words used in calligraphy are the most comprehensive and accessible for both the specialist and the generalist. Although some of these terms are of Arabic or Persian origin, the Turkish form is given here. Note, however, that the Turkish alphabet includes accented letters that are not available on most Western computers—including the ones used to construct this site. Also, certain letters are pronounced differently in Turkish than in English:

• c is pronounced j

• c with a cedilla accent is pronounced ch, as in cheese

• s with a cedilla accent is pronounced sh, as in ship

• i with no dot is pronounced oddly, so don’t worry about it if you see it somewhere

Ahar	sizing applied to paper
Aklam-i sitte	the six scripts
Besmele	the first sentence in the Koran, “In the name of God, the compassionate, the merciful”
Celi (Arabic jeli)	large version of a script, as in celi sulus, celi talik
Divani	a script evolved from talik in Turkey, reserved for official documents
Divit	portable inkwell and penholder
Ebru	Turkish marbled paper
Hadis (Arabic Hadith)	Traditions, sayings, and deeds of the Prophet recorded by his companions
Halkari	a type of illumination; literally, “work in dissolved gold”
Hat (Arabic khatt)	calligraphy
Hattat	calligrapher
Hilye	a levha composed of a text describing the Prophet Muhammad or other historical personalities
Hokka	inkwell
Icazet	permission or authorization
Icazetname	document certifying the holder to practice as a professional
Istif	a composition in which the letters interlace
Kalem	pen, reed pen
Kalip	stencil made by piercing the contours of a design with tiny holes; the design is reproduced by placing the kalip over a fresh sheet of paper and pouncing it with charcoal dust or chalk powder
Kit’a	small calligraphic work, generally horizontal or rectangular, and generally using two scripts, one large and one small
Koltuk	“armpit”; rectangular or triangular spaces in kit’as, levhas, and hilyes that allow for the arrangement of longer lines of a larger script with shorter lines of a smaller script
Levha	calligraphic panel for large (celi) scripts
Lika	wad of raw silk used in an inkwell to absorb and hold ink
Makta	pen-cutting slab
Mesk (pronounced meshk)	lesson or practice work
Mufredat	The beginner’s first group of lessons, consisting of single letters and then letters in pairs. These lessons teach spontaneity, proportion, and shape
Murakkaa	a calligraphic album
Murekkebat	These lessons follow the completion of the mufredat. They consist of texts, usually poems, calligraphed by an old master such as Sevki Efendi. These lessons are models of how to assemble words and sentences.
Mushaf	the Koran in a single volume, or codex
Nesih (Arabic naskh)	one of the six scripts, cursive and small style favored by Turkish calligraphers for copying the Koran and endowment deeds, texts, and so on
Serlevha	symmetrical double page of illumination opening a Koran
Sulus (Arabic thuluth)	one of the six scripts, larger than nesih, favored by Turkish calligraphers
Talik (also spelled taliq or called nestalik/nastaliq)	script developed beyond the aklam-i sitte; a style written without vowelling, used mostly in poetry and simple inscriptions
Taklid	imitation as a method of education
Tezhib	the art of illumination
Zer-efsan	gold flecks
Zer-endud	painting in gold against a dark background