زندان

Borrowed from Classical Persian زندان (zindān), itself from Middle Persian [Book Pahlavi needed] (zyndʾn' /⁠zēndān⁠/, “prison”).

زندان • (zindân or zındân) (definite accusative زندانی (zindânı, zındânı), plural زندانلر (zindânlar, zındânlar))

1. jail, prison, a place or institution for the confinement of persons held against their will in lawful custody or detention

   Synonyms: حبس (habs, habis), قفس (kafes)

2. dungeon, oubliette, an underground prison typically built underneath a castle and accessible through a trapdoor or hatch

   Synonym: دیماس (dimâs)

• Turkish: zindan
• → Albanian: zindan
• → Aromanian: zindáne, zundáne, zãndáne
• → Bulgarian: занда́н (zandán)
• → Macedonian: зандана (zandana)
• → Romanian: zandán
• → Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic script: зѝнда̄н

  Latin script: zìndān

• Barbier de Meynard, Charles (1886) “زندان”, in Dictionnaire turc-français, volume II, Paris: E. Leroux, page 47
• Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007) “zindan”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 5487
• Devellioğlu, Ferit (1962) “zindân”, in Osmanlıca-Türkçe Ansiklopedik Lûgat‎‎^[1] (in Turkish), Istanbul: Türk Dil Kurumu, page 1429
• Kélékian, Diran (1911) “زندان”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎^[2] (in French), Constantinople: Mihran, page 648
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1687) “Carcer”, in Complementum thesauri linguarum orientalium, seu onomasticum latino-turcico-arabico-persicum, simul idem index verborum lexici turcico-arabico-persici, quod latinâ, germanicâ, aliarumque linguarum adjectâ nomenclatione nuper in lucem editum‎^[3], Vienna, column 153
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1680) “زندان”, in Thesaurus linguarum orientalium, Turcicae, Arabicae, Persicae, praecipuas earum opes à Turcis peculiariter usurpatas continens, nimirum Lexicon Turkico-Arabico-Persicum‎^[4], Vienna, column 2473
• Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “zindan”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
• Redhouse, James W. (1890) “زندان”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎^[5], Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 1016

From Middle Persian [Book Pahlavi needed] (zyndʾn' /⁠zēndān⁠/, “prison”). Ultimate origin uncertain. Perhaps originally "arsenal, armoury", from [Book Pahlavi needed] (zyn' /⁠zēn⁠/, “weapon, armour”) and [script needed] (-dʾn' /⁠-dān⁠/, “holder, container”).

Compare Old Armenian զնդան (zndan), Classical Syriac ܙܢܕܢܝܩ (zendānīq), Iranian borrowings.

• Rhymes: -ɑːn

زِندان • (zendân)

1. jail, prison

   آنها می‌خواستند زندان برای ما قبر باشد؛ اما خدا را شکر، زندان را به عبادتگاه و فرهنگستان تبدیل کردیم. ― ân-hâ mixâstand zendân barây-e mâ qabr bâšad; ammâ xodâ râ šokr, zendân râ be ebâdatgâh o farhangestân tabdil kardim. ― They wanted prison to be a grave for us, but, thank God, we turned the prison into sanctuaries of worship and academies for study.

• زندانی (zendâni)
• زندانبان (zendânbân)

• Hübschmann, Heinrich (1897) Armenische Grammatik. 1. Theil: Armenische Etymologie (in German), Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, page 151
• Horn, Paul (1893) Grundriss der neupersischen Etymologie (in German), Strasbourg: K.J. Trübner, § 671, page 149

Borrowed from Classical Persian زِنْدَان (zindān). First attested in c. 1649 as Middle Hindi زندان (zndan /⁠zindān⁠/).^[1]

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /zɪn.d̪ɑːn/
• Rhymes: -ɑːn
• Hyphenation: زِن‧دَان

زِنْدَان • (zindān) m (Hindi spelling ज़िंदान)

1. prison

   Synonyms: قَید خانَہ (qaid xāna), جیل (jel), جیل خانَہ (jel xāna)

• “زندان”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2025.
• Fallon, Platts, Qureshi, Shakespear (2024) “زندان”, in Digital Dictionaries of South Asia [Combined Urdu Dictionaries]