ит Noun
Looks like it Really means dog
The pronoun it in Kyrgyz is ал; ит just means the animal, dog.
Some Kyrgyz words look like an English word you already know, then mean something completely different. Here are 18 of the most common traps, each with the English word it resembles, what it really means, and how to say the English sense instead.
False friends in Kyrgyz are words that look like an English word but mean something completely different. For example, ит means dog, not it, and ат means horse, not at. This free guide lists 18 real Kyrgyz false friends: the English word each one resembles, what it truly means, and how to say the English sense correctly.
All 18 Kyrgyz false friends.
Looks like it Really means dog
The pronoun it in Kyrgyz is ал; ит just means the animal, dog.
Looks like at Really means horse
The preposition at has no single-word match in Kyrgyz (place is marked by a case ending); ат just means horse.
Looks like cat Really means a written letter, note, or document
Cat, the animal, is мышык in Kyrgyz; кат is a letter you write.
Looks like joke Really means no, there isn't, doesn't exist
Joke is тамаша in Kyrgyz; жок is just the everyday word for no.
Looks like bell Really means waist, lower back
Bell is коңгуроо in Kyrgyz; бел is your waist.
Looks like too Really means mountain
Also, too is the particle да in Kyrgyz; тоо just means mountain.
Looks like toy Really means feast, wedding celebration
A child's toy is оюнчук in Kyrgyz; той is a wedding feast.
Looks like buy Really means rich, wealthy
To buy is сатып алуу in Kyrgyz; бай just means rich.
Looks like ton Really means fur coat, sheepskin coat
The weight unit ton is тонна in Kyrgyz; тон is just a coat.
Looks like terse Really means wrong, negative, backwards
Terse means brief in speech in English; терс means wrong or negative in Kyrgyz, an unrelated sense.
Looks like mall Really means livestock, cattle
A shopping mall is соода борбору in Kyrgyz; мал is farm livestock.
Looks like jazz Really means spring, the season
The music genre is spelled джаз in Kyrgyz, with an extra д; жаз means spring.
Looks like till Really means language, tongue
Until, till is чейин in Kyrgyz; тил means language or the tongue.
Looks like family Really means surname, last name
Family is үй-бүлө in Kyrgyz; фамилия is just your surname.
Looks like magazine Really means shop, store
Magazine, the periodical, is журнал in Kyrgyz; магазин is a shop.
Looks like preservative Really means condom
A food preservative is unrelated; презерватив in Kyrgyz means condom.
Looks like baton Really means a long loaf of white bread
A relay or conductor's baton is таяк in Kyrgyz; батон is just a bread loaf.
Looks like tort Really means cake
A legal tort is unrelated; торт in Kyrgyz is simply a cake.
Data verified as of July 2026.
False friends stick when you meet them inside a real sentence. Lingo7 lets you read real books in Kyrgyz with sentence-aligned translation and native-narrated audio, so the true meaning attaches to the story instead of the English lookalike. Save the tricky words and review them later. Free to start.
A false friend is a word that looks or sounds like a word in your language but carries a different meaning. English and Kyrgyz overlap heavily because both borrowed from Latin, Greek, and French, or share older roots. The spelling stayed close while the meaning drifted, so Kyrgyz ит still reads like "it" to an English eye even though it means "dog".
These slips are common because your brain rewards the shortcut: a familiar-looking word feels safe, so you skip the check. That is fine until ит or ат changes the meaning of a whole sentence. Recognizing the pattern is half the fix. Knowing the handful of high-frequency offenders on this page is the other half.
The durable fix is not memorization but exposure in context. When you read Kyrgyz and see one of these words doing its real job in a sentence, with a translation a tap away, the correct meaning wins. That is exactly what reading in Lingo7 is built for.
Find Kyrgyz books at your level (A1 to C1) →
Test your Kyrgyz level with the CEFR test (A1-C2) →
How long does it take to learn Kyrgyz? See the timeline →
False friends are Kyrgyz words that look almost identical to an English word but mean something different, like ит, which looks like "it" but means "dog". They exist because both languages inherited or borrowed from shared roots that then drifted apart. The fix is meeting them in real sentences until the true meaning sticks.
No. Kyrgyz ит actually means dog, not it. The pronoun it in Kyrgyz is ал; ит just means the animal, dog. This is one of the most common Kyrgyz false friends for English speakers, so it is worth learning early.
Memorizing a list helps for a day; context makes it permanent. When you meet Kyrgyz words like ит and торт inside real sentences, with the translation one tap away, the correct meaning attaches to the situation instead of to the English lookalike. That is how reading in Lingo7 trains them out of you.
Yes. Kyrgyz and English share a large amount of vocabulary through Latin, French, and centuries of borrowing, and that overlap is exactly what breeds false friends. This page covers 18 of the most common ones, from ит (looks like it) to торт (looks like tort). Reading in context is the surest way to keep them straight.