The material for this dictionary has been gathered in two stages. Between
1964-73 much of the material was compiled, assisted by the publication of
volumes I and II of Khal's dictionary. This in a sense set the general frame of
the dictionary as it represented the major published source. Then came the
publication of the bilingual dictionary by T. Wahby and C. J. Edmonds, from
the standard and technical features of which, this dictionary has largely
benefited.

1987-93 is the second stage during which the work on this dictionary was
greatly expanded and brought up to date. Taking advantage of the publication
of Khal's third and final volume in 1974, the dictionary's framework with
regards to the general and commonly accepted vocabulary was augmented. In a
real sense, the process of updating this dictionary has continued especially
when I returned to Kurdistan in 1996 and up to the time shortly before its
publication. Unfortunately, this process has not included, due to the time
factor, the contributions that have been made in the last few years.

1958-61 in Iraq, the 1980s to the present abroad (where a sizable Kurdish
community exists), and more importantly since 1992 in the Kurdish self-governing region of Southern (Iraqi) Kurdistan, are periods characterized by a
profusion of material produced in Kurdish utilizing a language increasingly
purified from foreign accretions. This perhaps represents a most important
aspect of the development of the Kurdish language in the last few decades
where the Kurdish press, teachers unions, students organizations and the
literary community both at home and abroad have embarked upon a gradual
process reviving original Kurdish vocabulary which has fallen into disuse,
deriving new meaning from them and even coining new words. No doubt there
are among these efforts eccentricities which, as Wahby states "would better be
forgotten". However, too austere a stand in this respect would deprive the
users of any Kurdish dictionary of a most lively and important process that
written Kurdish is passing through, both in the development of its vocabulary
and the style of its composition.

In this regard, the Sharezoor Kurdish-English Dictionary has taken the
middle ground between Wahby's rather reserved stand and Hezhar's somewhat
free rein in his Henbane Borîne, A Kurdish-Kurdish-Persian Dictionary,
Siroosh, Teheran,1991. For this purpose, the dictionary has depended on
research and selections from numerous scientific and technical glossaries,
periodicals, newspaper, magazines, collections of poems, etc. which to a great
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degree represent the major aspects of recent development and use of the
Kurdish language.