Kurdish, a member of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family, is spoken by millions of Kurds across the Middle East, primarily in Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria. Despite its unique features, the Kurdish language shares many linguistic similarities with several other languages. According to the eLinguistics.net analysis using specific software modules to assess linguistic relationships, the five languages most similar to Kurdish are Zazaki, Persian, Balochi, Mazandarani, and Tajik.
- Zazaki (71.9)
Zazaki is spoken primarily in eastern Turkey. It shares many linguistic features with Kurdish. Both languages have similar phonological systems and syntactic structures, making them mutually intelligible to some extent. Zazaki also has significant lexical similarities with Kurdish due to their common historical and geographical connections. - Persian (70.6)
Persian is the official language of Iran. It is one of the closest relatives of Kurdish. These languages share a substantial amount of vocabulary, especially in formal and literary contexts. Both languages have influenced each other over centuries through cultural interactions, and they share similar grammatical structures and phonological features. - Balochi (67.7)
Balochi is spoken in Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan. It shares many characteristics with Kurdish, particularly in terms of phonology and vocabulary. The historical migrations and interactions between Kurdish and Balochi-speaking communities have led to a considerable overlap in their linguistic features. - Mazandarani (64.7)
The Mazandarani language is primarily spoken in the Mazandaran province of northern Iran, close to where many Kurds live. Their languages share many phonological and morphological features. The vocabulary of Mazandarani also shows significant similarities with Kurdish, especially in agricultural and everyday terms. - Tajik (64.4)
Tajik is sometimes considered a variety of Persian, so it is another close relative of Kurdish. The grammatical structures of Tajik and Kurdish are quite similar, with both languages using similar verb forms and sentence constructions. The lexical similarities between Tajik and Kurdish are also notable, especially in literary and formal contexts.
(to be considered for the list, the language must be spoken by at least one million people)