A vizier (/vɪˈzɪər/, rarely /ˈvɪzjər/;Arabic: وزير; wazīr, Persian: vazīr ; وازیر, Turkish: vezir, Chinese: 宰相; zǎixiàng, Bengali: উজির; ujira, Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu): वज़ीर or وزیر; vazeer (sometimes spelled vazir, vizir, vasir, wazir, vesir, or vezir), is a high-ranking political advisor or minister. The Abbasid caliphs gave the title wazir to a minister formerly called katib (secretary) who was at first merely a helper, but afterwards became the representative and successor of the dapir (official scribe or secretary) of the Sassanian kings.
In modern usage, the term has been used for ministers in much of the Middle East and beyond.
The word entered into English in 1562 from the Turkish vezir ("counselor"), derived from the Arabic wazir ("viceroy"). Wazir itself has two possible etymologies:
In modern Turkey, there is no usage of 'vezir' for any ministry as suggested in the description above.