Glossary
Words, and where we got them
Two entries, each with the dictionary it came from. Below them, six words you will meet elsewhere that we have not sourced to our own standard — listed as gaps rather than quietly left out, because a glossary that omits what it cannot support looks complete when it is not.
Sourced
Cezve
A small handled vessel for making coffee, per the Türk Dil Kurumu — the dictionary of record for Turkish. Collins adds the physical description: small, metal, usually copper, with a long metal handle. Jezwa uses this word because it is the one that names the method the company is built around.
Briki μπρίκι
The Greek name for the same vessel, recorded by Collins. Use it when the subject is Greek coffee. It is not a synonym to reach for when you have already used “cezve” twice in a paragraph — the words belong to different kitchens.
Not sourced yet
These are real words in real use. Their absence from the list above is a statement about Jezwa’s research, not about them.
- Rakwe, rakwa, rakweh
- The Levantine term. Searched, and everything findable was written by somebody selling the pot. See the terminology page, where the entry is deliberately left open.
- Dallah
- A different vessel, used for Arabic coffee in the Gulf. We have no source describing it, and the UNESCO element for Arabic coffee does not mention it.
- Džezva
- The Balkan term, spanning several countries with distinct practices. Nobody here has researched them.
- Kanaka
- The Egyptian term. Not researched.
- Fincan
- The small cup. We use the plain English word instead, because we cannot yet source the usage of the specific one.
- Ibrik
- Widely used in English-language coffee writing for the same pot. We avoid it because we have not established which communities use it for this vessel and which use it for something else.
Why there are no pronunciations
§18 of our own style guide asks for pronunciation “when sourced”, and we have no source for it. A respelling invented from how an English speaker imagines a word sounds is worse than silence: it teaches somebody to say it wrong, with confidence, in front of people who would know.
When we commission readers from the traditions these words belong to, pronunciation is one of the things we will ask them for.
How this page was made
- Written by
- Josh Andrewlavage, founder, Jezwa. Jezwa intends to sell coffee and a cezve, so treat anything here that sounds like a recommendation as coming from someone with an interest in it. Every factual claim on this page is sourced below so you can check it without taking our word for anything.
- Updated
- 25 August 2026. This is when the text last changed, not when the sources were last re-read — each source below carries the date it was opened.
- Cultural review
- Not yet reviewed. Jezwa is new and has not yet commissioned a reader from each tradition named here. Until it has, this page states only what its listed sources support, and says where it stops. Corrections are welcome at hello@jezwa.com.
Sources
- cezve, Güncel Türkçe Sözlük — Türk Dil Kurumu. Accessed 23 August 2026.
- cezve — Collins English Dictionary, Complete & Unabridged. Accessed 23 August 2026.
- briki — Collins English Dictionary, Complete & Unabridged. Accessed 23 August 2026.
- Turkish coffee culture and tradition — UNESCO, Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (Türkiye, 2013). Accessed 23 August 2026.
- Arabic coffee, a symbol of generosity — UNESCO, Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Accessed 23 August 2026.