tavla

tav·la
T1A1V4L1A1
/teɪvlɑː//tævlɑː/

noun

A version of the board game backgammon played widely in Turkey and other countries of the region.

OriginTurkish tavla ← Italian tavola ← Latin tabula →
RareScrabble 8
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Meanings

nountavla (usually uncountable, plural tavlas)

plural tavlas

  1. uncountableusuallybackgammonA version of the board game backgammon played widely in Turkey and other countries of the region.

    1978, Past the tavern and hear the joggle of tavlas — Lawrence Durrell, in a 1977 interview published in Listener, 1978, and reprinted in Lawrence Durrell: Conversations, 1998 (see p.174)

Origin

  1. Latintabula
  2. Italiantavola
  3. Turkishtavla
  4. Englishtavla

From Turkish tavla, from Italian tavola, from Latin tabula. Doublet of table and tabula.

More words from Turkish, Italian, Latin

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

talavlavta
Cite this entry
APA

tavla. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tavla

MLA

“tavla.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tavla. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tavla,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tavla.

Source: tavla on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.