The purpose of the article is to clarify the sources of their appearance, use and preservation in the poetics of zhyrau by analyzing the etymology of words borrowed from the Arabic and Persian languages, found in the works of the zhyrau poets of Mangistau of the 18th-19th centuries. We have classified the Arabic-Persian words in the language of the Mangystau poets-zhyrau into two large groups: firstly, these are words associated with religious concepts; secondly, the author's figurative applications used for artistic purposes.If some of these words, which have changed in terms of form and have become similar to the original Kazakh words, are understandable for everyone, then other words are understandable only to people with a special religious education, since they have retained the form of the Arabic language. As a result of the study, we came to the conclusion that the use of Arabic, Persian words in the language of zhyrau poets for a poetic purpose, or in connection with certain religious concepts, indicates that the zhyrau poets, firstly, knew the Central Asian Turkic literary traditions, and secondly, were very literate in the field of the Muslim religion.