FemaleOrigin: Greek

Defne: Meaning, Origin and Pronunciation

Defne is a girl’s name of Greek origin. It means “laurel, bay tree”.

Say it: def-neh

About the name Defne

Meaning: laurel, bay tree
Origin: Greek; From Greek daphne “laurel”. In myth, the nymph Daphne was turned into a laurel tree.
Gender: Female
Pronunciation: def-neh

How to pronounce Defne

Turkish spelling is phonetic: every letter is pronounced, and each letter always has the same sound. Our respellingdef-neh is an approximation for English speakers. Turkish stresses syllables much more evenly than English, so avoid hitting one syllable hard. Tap the letters below for tips.

Defne

Letters English doesn’t haveFamiliar letters with a Turkish twist

e
Final e is pronounced
A final e is never silent in Turkish: it is a short “eh”, so the name has one more syllable than an English reader might expect.
Hear e in the alphabet tool →

Practice the sounds in the Turkish alphabet tool or readhow to pronounce i, dotless ı and soft g.

Defne with Turkish suffixes

Turkish adds case endings where English uses prepositions. With a personal name the ending is separated by anapostrophe (Defne'ye, Defne'nin), but it is still pronounced as one word. The apostrophe only marks where the name ends; the suffix itself follows the usual rules.

The last vowel of Defne is e, a front unrounded vowel. So two-way suffixes take e and four-way suffixes takei (vowel harmony):Defne'de, Defne'yi.

Because Defne ends in a vowel, a buffer letter keeps two vowels apart:y in Defne'yi, Defne'ye and Defne'yle, and n in the genitive Defne'nin.

Case forms of Defne
Case	Form	Example
Accusative (object)	Defne'yi	Defne'yi tanıyor musun? Do you know Defne?
Dative (to)	Defne'ye	Defne'ye bir mesaj yazdım. I wrote a message to Defne.
Locative (at / with)	Defne'de	Anahtarlar Defne'de. Defne has the keys. (lit. The keys are at Defne.)
Ablative (from)	Defne'den	Defne'den bir hediye aldım. I got a present from Defne.
Genitive (’s)	Defne'nin	Bu Defne'nin çantası. This is Defne’s bag.
Instrumental (with)	Defne'yle	Dün Defne'yle konuştum. I talked with Defne yesterday.

Forms are generated by TurkLogic’s tested grammar engine. See every case explained in theTurkish noun cases guide, or check the harmony of any word in thevowel harmony calculator.

More female names of Greek origin

Frequently asked questions

What does the name Defne mean?

Defne is a Turkish girl’s name meaning “laurel, bay tree”. Its origin is Greek. From Greek daphne “laurel”. In myth, the nymph Daphne was turned into a laurel tree.

How do you pronounce Defne?

Say it roughly as “def-neh”, keeping every vowel short and clear. A final e is never silent in Turkish: it is a short “eh”, so the name has one more syllable than an English reader might expect.

How do you add suffixes to Defne in Turkish?

Because Defne is a proper name, case endings go after an apostrophe and follow vowel harmony: Defne'ye (to Defne), Defne'nin (Defne’s), Defne'de (at Defne’s) and Defne'yle (with Defne).