Word.ws English Dictionary

jali

jali noun: a stone screen, perforated or latticed, usually with a geometrical ornamental pattern, used in Indian and Islamic architecture as a climate-controlling element.

jali: a stone screen, perforated or latticed, usually with a geometrical ornamental pattern, used in...
Image: Alireza Rostami, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

jali (plural jalis)

  1. A stone screen, perforated or latticed, usually with a geometrical ornamental pattern, used in Indian and Islamic architecture as a climate-controlling element.
    • The main purpose of jali is to control light, air flow, visual privacy, aesthetic and social role, and spatiality. The central technical aspect of the jali's construction is its function as a climate-controlling element, where the distances between the interstices, the size, and the volume of the...2024, Sharmin Khan, Kheir Al-Kodmany, Mohd Khalid Hassan, M. Farhan Fazli, editors, The Majesty of Islamic Art and Architecture, Copal Publishing, →ISBN, page 16

Noun (2)

jali (plural jalis)

  1. (uncommon) A praise-singer or griot in Western Africa.
    • The plucked instrument's harplike sound accompanies the jali's song—praise for patrons, histories and genealogies, satire, political commentary, and poetic recitation.2015, J. Kenneth Moore, Jayson Kerr Dobney, E Bradley Strachen-Scherer, Musical Instruments: Highlights of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, →ISBN, page 172
    • The social status of jalis is complex. They are important keepers of cultural knowledge, and their dalilu gives them the sole right and power to perform certain types of music.2020, Andrew R. Martin, Matthew Mihalka, editors, Music around the World: A Global Encyclopedia, Bloomsbury, →ISBN

Forms of jali

pluraljalis

Origin of jali

Borrowed from Gujarati જાળી (jāḷī, “net”).

Borrowed from Bambara [Term?].

Questions about jali

What does jali mean?
Jali means a stone screen, perforated or latticed, usually with a geometrical ornamental pattern, used in Indian and Islamic architecture as a climate-controlling element.
What part of speech is jali?
Jali is a noun.
What is the plural of jali?
The plural of jali is jalis.

Words near jali in the dictionary

  1. Jaleș
  2. jalfrazi
  3. jalfrezi
  4. jalfrezis
  5. Jalgaon
  6. jali
  7. jalia
  8. jalias
  9. Jalil
  10. Jalili syndrome
  11. Jalils

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: jali (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “jali.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/jali. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.