derken

Inherited from Ottoman Turkish دیر ایكن, دیركن, equivalent to der (third-person singular indicative aorist of demek) +‎ -ken (“while”), literally “while saying”.

• IPA^(key): /ˈdeɾ.cen/, [ˈdæɾ̞̊cæn]

derken

1. and then (used for instantaneous actions that occur during the course of a longer action in recounting a past event)

   Derken o geldi.

   And then he came.

2. (with first person singular optative suffix -eyim/-ayım) while (used for unintended, often unwanted, actions that happen while doing something else)

   Dolaba eşyaları kaldırayım derken kafamı kapağına çarptım.

   I hit my head on the cabinet door while trying to put some things away in it.

   Evden hızlıca çıkayım derken telefonumu unutmuşum.

   I forgot my phone in a hurry to leave the house.

   (literally, “While saying I should be quick in leaving the house, I forgot my phone.”)

3. what I mean by …

   Et derken kırmızı etten bahsediyorum.

   By "meat," I mean red meat.

• dediğim

• “derken”, in Turkish dictionaries, Türk Dil Kurumu
• Ayverdi, İlhan (2010), “demek”, in Misalli Büyük Türkçe Sözlük, a reviewed and expanded single-volume edition, Istanbul: Kubbealtı Neşriyatı
• Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007), “derken”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), volume 5, Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 1143