جان

Derived from the active participle of جَنَى (janā, “to gather, to harvest; to commit a crime”).

جَانٍ • (jānin) (informal جَانِي (jānī), feminine جَانِيَة (jāniya), masculine plural جُنَاة (junāh) or جَانُونَ (jānūna), feminine plural جَانِيَات (jāniyāt))

1. guilty, delinquent, criminal, flagrant, vicious, evil

جَانٍ • (jānin) m (construct state جَانِي (jānī), plural جَانُونَ (jānūna) or جُنَاة (junāh), feminine جَانِيَة (jāniya))

1. gatherer, harvester, harvestman, reaper
2. perpetrator, offender, delinquent, criminal, culprit, felon, evildoer

Has the form derived from the active participle, as if from جَنَّ (janna, “to hide”) (in the passive جُنَّ (junna, “to go crazy”)).

جَانّ • (jānn) m or f (plural جَوَانّ (jawānn) or جِنَّان (jinnān))

1. snake, serpent
2. (defined, proper noun, Islam) Jann, the forefather of the race of jinn
   • 1445-1505, Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī, Al-Dur al-Manthur, page Surah 2:30:

     وقد كان فيها قبل أن يخلق بألفي عام الجن بنو الجان، ففسدوا في الأرض.

     Two thousand years before [Adam] He [God] created the jinn, the sons of Jann, on earth, and they spread corruption and shed blood therein.

3. (rare or Classical Arabic) a jinn; a genie, a jann.
   • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 55:74:

     لَمْ يَطْمِثْهُنَّ إِنْسٌ قَبْلَهُمْ وَلَا جَانٌّ

     lam yaṭmiṯhunna ʔinsun qablahum walā jānnun

     touched them has not mankind before them nor a jinn.

4. a serpentine or draconic class of the jinn
5. (in the plural) any supernatural being in general, especially elves and fairies.

• جِنّ (jinn, “jinn”)
• نَسْنَاس (nasnās, “nasnas”)
• غُول (ḡūl, “ghoul”)

جان (can) (definite accusative جانێ (canı), plural جانلار (canlar))

1. Arabic spelling of can (“life, soul”)

Borrowed from Persian جان.^[1]

جَانْ • (cān)

1. soul, spirit
   • 14th Century, anonymous author, Dresden manuscript: Kitāb-ı Dedem Ḳorḳud Alā Lisān-ı Tāife-i Oġuzān:

     اولن آدم دیرلمز, چیخان جان كرو كلمز

     ölän ādäm dirilmäz, çıḫan cān gerü gälmäz

     [a] dead person does not arise back, [a] departed soul does not come back

2. life

• Azerbaijani: can
• Gagauz: can
• Ottoman Turkish: جان (can)
  • Turkish: can
  • → Albanian: xhan
  • → Macedonian: џан (džan)
  • → Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: џан

    Latin script: džan

• “can”, in XIII. Yüzyılından Beri Türkiye Türkçesiyle Yazılmış Kitaplarından Toplanan Tanıklarıyle Tarama Sözlüğü (Türk Dil Kurumu yayınları; 212)‎^[1] (in Turkish), Ankara: Türk Dil Kurumu, 1963–1977, page 126

Inherited from Old Anatolian Turkish جان, Persian جان (jân, “soul, vital spirit, life”).

جان • (can)

1. soul
2. being
3. life
4. heart
5. darling

• Turkish: can
• → Albanian: xhan
• → Macedonian: џан (džan)
• → Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic script: џан

  Latin script: džan

جان • (can)

1. Suffix expressing intimacy, roughly equivalent to dear or darling, attached to a name or title

• جون (jun) (colloquial Iranian)

From Middle Persian [Book Pahlavi needed] (HYA), [Book Pahlavi needed] (yʾn'), 𐫃𐫏𐫀𐫗 (gyʾn /⁠gyān⁠/, “soul, ghost”), from Proto-Iranian *wyaHnáH (equivalent to*wi- + *HanH- (“to breathe”)), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *wyaHnás, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂enh₁- (“to breathe”), whence, for example, Latin animus.

Cognate with Northern Kurdish giyan, Central Kurdish گیان (giyan), Avestan 𐬬𐬌𐬌𐬁𐬥𐬀𐬌𐬌𐬁 (viiānaiiā), Sanskrit व्यान (vyāná).

Readings
Classical reading?	jān
Dari reading?	jān
Iranian reading?	jân
Tajik reading?	jon

• Rhymes: -ɑːn, (Tehrani) -uːn

جان • (jân) (plural جان‌ها)

1. soul; life; life-force

   جان خود را از دست دادن ― jân-e xod râ az dast dâdan ― to lose one's life, to pass away

   • c. 1580, Vahshī Bāfqī, “گلهٔ یار دل‌آزار”, in گزیده اشعار [Selected Poems]‎^[2]:

     جان من سنگدلی ، دل به تو دادن غلط است
     بر سر راه تو چون خاک فتادن غلط است
     چشم امید به روی تو گشادن غلط است
     روی پر گرد به راه تو نهادن غلط است
     رفتن اولاست ز کوی تو ، ستادن غلط است
     جان شیرین به تمنای تو دادن غلط است

     jān-i man-i sangdilī, dil ba tu dādan ġalat ast
     bar sar-i rāh-i tu čūn xāk fitādan ġalat ast
     čašm-i umēd ba rōy-i tu gušādan ġalat ast
     rōy-i pur gird ba rāh-i to nihādan ġalat ast
     raftan awwalā-st zi kōy-i tu, sitādan ġalat ast
     jān-i šīrīn ba tamannā-yi tu dādan ġalat ast

     My stone-hearted love, it's a mistake to give my heart to you;
     It's a mistake to fall down like dust at the head of your path;
     It's a mistake to open my hopeful eyes to your face;
     It's a mistake to lay my dusty face on your path;
     First of all, I leave your street, it's a mistake to stand here;
     It's a mistake to give up my sweet life to desiring you.

     (Classical Persian transliteration)

2. energy; strength

   پاهایم جان ندارند.

   pâ-hâ-yam jân na-dârand.

   My legs are tired.

   (literally, “My legs have no life.”)

3. main point; essence

   جان کلام ― jân-e kalâm ― heart of the matter

4. (mainly in جانم or جان من) someone very close, e.g. a beloved or close family

   جانم ― jân-am ― my love (literally, “my soul”)

   • c. 1580, Vahshī Bāfqī, “گلهٔ یار دل‌آزار”, in گزیده اشعار [Selected Poems]‎^[3]:

     جان من سنگدلی ، دل به تو دادن غلط است
     بر سر راه تو چون خاک فتادن غلط است
     چشم امید به روی تو گشادن غلط است
     روی پر گرد به راه تو نهادن غلط است
     رفتن اولاست ز کوی تو ، ستادن غلط است
     جان شیرین به تمنای تو دادن غلط است

     jān-i man-i sangdilī, dil ba tu dādan ġalat ast
     bar sar-i rāh-i tu čūn xāk fitādan ġalat ast
     čašm-i umēd ba rōy-i tu gušādan ġalat ast
     rōy-i pur gird ba rāh-i to nihādan ġalat ast
     raftan awwalā-st zi kōy-i tu, sitādan ġalat ast
     jān-i šīrīn ba tamannā-yi tu dādan ġalat ast

     My stone-hearted love, it's a mistake to give my heart to you;
     It's a mistake to fall down like dust at the head of your path;
     It's a mistake to open my hopeful eyes to your face;
     It's a mistake to lay my dusty face on your path;
     First of all, I leave your street, it's a mistake to stand here;
     It's a mistake to give up my sweet life to desiring you.

     (Classical Persian transliteration)

جان • (jân)

1. what?; a request for clarification upon mishearing.
2. An exclamation of joy.

• When used for clarification, this is normally pronounced jân and not jun even in colloquial Iranian Persian.

• Cheung, Johnny (2007) Etymological Dictionary of the Iranian Verb (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 2), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 161

Borrowed from Classical Persian جَان (jān).

• (Standard Punjabi) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒäːnᵊ/

جان • (jān) f (Gurmukhi spelling ਜਾਨ)

1. life, soul

   Synonyms: زِنْدَگی (zindagī), جِیوَن (jīvan), جِنْدَڑی (jindaṛī), حَیَات, آتْما (ātmā), رُوح (rūḥ)

2. courage, power
3. (figuratively) love, beloved
4. truth, basis (of a matter)

Inherited from Prakrit 𑀚𑀸𑀡 (jāṇa), from Sanskrit ज्ञान (jñāna).

• (Standard Punjabi) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒäːɳᵊ/

جَاݨ • (jāṇ) f (Gurmukhi spelling ਜਾਣ)

1. knowledge, understanding

جَاݨ • (jāṇ) (Gurmukhi spelling ਜਾਣ)

1. inflection of جَاݨنا (jāṇnā):
   1. stem
   2. second-person singular present imperative

جَاݨ • (jāṇ) (Gurmukhi spelling ਜਾਣ)

1. oblique infinitive of جَاݨا (jāṇā, “to go”)

• Iqbal, Salah ud-Din (2002) “جان”, in vaḍḍī panjābī lughat‎ (in Punjabi), Lahore: ʻAzīz Pablisharz
• Bashir, Kanwal (2012) “جان”, in Punjabi-English Dictionary, Hyattsville, MD: Dunwoody Press
• “جان”, in Punjabi-English Dictionary, Patiala: Punjabi University, 2025
• Turner, Ralph Lilley (1969–1985) “jñāna”, in A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages, London: Oxford University Press, page 291

Borrowed from Classical Persian جان (jān).

جان • (jān) ?

1. life; soul

From Sanskrit जन्तु (jantú).

• IPA^(key): /d͡ʒaːn/

جان (ǰan)

1. snake

• Torwali, Zubair (2019) “جان”, in Torwali Dictionary (Webonary) (in Torwali), Dallas, Texas, USA: SIL International, published 2020.

• جاں (jā̃)

Borrowed from Classical Persian جَان (jān).

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒɑːn/
• Rhymes: -ɑːn

جَان • (jān) f (Hindi spelling जान)

1. life (ie. a soul, person)

   Synonyms: زِنْدَگِی (zindagī), حَیات (hayāt), جِیوَن (jīvan)

2. spirit, vitality

Borrowed from Persian جان (jân, “soul, vital spirit, life”).

جان • (jan)

1. soul
2. spirit
3. life

   جېنىم ― jénim ― my dear

4. person
5. dear

   جان ئانا ― jan ana ― my dear mother