Cacık

Cacık (Turkish pronunciation: [dʒaˈdʒɯk]; Ottoman Turkish: جاجيق‎‎; Arabic: لبن وخيار‎; Persian: ماست و خیار ‎‎; Kurdish: jajî‎; Azerbaijani: cacıq; Greek: τζατζίκι [dzaˈdzici] or [dʒaˈdʒici], anglicised: /zɑːdˈziːki/ or /tsɑːtˈsiːki/, /tsæ-/) is a dish of seasoned, strained or diluted yogurt, eaten throughout the former Ottoman countries. It is similar to tarator in Balkan cuisine. It is made of salted strained yogurt or diluted yogurt mixed with cucumbers, garlic, salt, olive oil, sometimes with vinegar or lemon juice, and some herbs like dill, mint, parsley, thyme etc. It is always served cold.

Etymology

The ultimate source of the word cacık is uncertain. It is likely a loanword from the Armenian cacıg.

The root cac is likely related to several words in Western Asian languages. Persian zhazh (ژاژ) refers to various herbs used for cooking. Kurdish (Kurmanji) jaj refers to caraway, while Armenian taghdz (դաղձ) refers to mint. The suffix -ık is Turkish and is related to Armenian -ıχ (-ıg).