Bileğim incinince, annem merhem sürdü.

my

Breakdown of Bileğim incinince, annem merhem sürdü.

• -ince: when
• anne: the mother
• sürmek: to apply

Questions & Answers about Bileğim incinince, annem merhem sürdü.

What does bileğim mean exactly, and how is it built?

Bileğim means my wrist.

It is built from:

• bilek = wrist
• -im = my

So you might expect bilekim, but Turkish changes the final k to ğ before a vowel-initial ending:

• bilek → bileğim

This kind of sound change is very common in Turkish.

Why does bilek become bileğ- in bileğim?

Because when some Turkish nouns ending in k take a suffix that begins with a vowel, the k often softens to ğ.

So:

• bilek
  • -im → bileğim

The ğ here is usually not pronounced like a strong consonant in English. It often just lengthens or smooths the preceding vowel.

What does incinince mean?