زلف

Understood traditionally as a borrowing from Arabic زُلَف‎ (zulaf), a plural form of the noun زُلْفَة‎ (zulfa, “dignity, rank, proximity, a portion of the night”), from زَلَفَ‎ (zalafa, “to get close, to advance”, verb). The Persian meaning may have been influenced by other related forms such as Arabic زُلْفَى‎ (zulfā) and زَلَف‎ (zalaf), both meaning '"flattery, adulation" and زَلْف‎ (zalf, “proximity, closeness”).

زلف • (zolf)

1. curl, tress

   ‏تیره زلف‎ ― tire zolf ― dark hair

   • c. 800 CE, Firooz :

     سرو سیمین ترا در مشک تر
     زلف فرخالت ز سر تا پا گرفت‎

• زلف بافته‎ (“a braid”)

• Hindi: ज़ुल्फ़ (zulf)
• Urdu: زلف‎

• Dehkhoda, Ali-Akbar (1931–), “زلف”, in Dehkhoda Dictionary Institute, editors, Dehkhoda Dictionary (in Persian), Tehran: University of Tehran Press
• Diccionario avanzado árabe de Federico Corriente e Ignacio Ferrando, 2005, p. 492
• Kashshaaf Istilahaat al-Funooni wal Uloom by al-Tahanawi (d. 1777 CE) كشّاف اصطلاحات الفنون والعلوم للتهانوي
• Asaas al-Balaaghah by al-Zamakhshari (d. 1143 CE) أساس البلاغة للزمخشري