نگون

Persian

Etymology

From Middle Persian [Book Pahlavi needed] (nkwn' /⁠nigūn⁠/). Akin to Old Armenian նկուն (nkun), an Iranian borrowing.

Pronunciation

(Classical Persian) IPA^(key): /ni.ˈɡuːn/

(Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [nɪ.ɡuːn]
- (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [nɪ.ɡuːn]
- (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [nu.ɡun]

(Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [ne.ɡuːn]

(Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [ni.ɡun]

Readings
Classical reading^?	nigūn
Dari reading^?	nigūn
Iranian reading^?	negun
Tajik reading^?	nigun


Iranian Persian	نگون
Dari	نگون
Tajik	нигун

Adjective

نگون • (negun)

turned, inverted, hanging down
- c. 1260s, Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Rūmī, translated by Reynold A. Nicholson, مثنوی معنوی [Masnavi-ye-Ma'navi], volume III, verse 1145:
  عقل جزوی گاه چیره گه نگون
  عقل کلی آمن از ریب المنون
  aql-i juzwī gāh čīra gah nigūn
  aql-i kullī āmin az raybu l-manūn
  The particular intellect is sometimes dominant, sometimes overthrown;
  the Universal Intellect is secure from the mischances of Time.
upside down

Derived terms

سرنگون (sarnegun)

Further reading

MacKenzie, D. N. (1971) A concise Pahlavi dictionary, London, New York, Toronto: Oxford University Press, page 59
Steingass, Francis Joseph (1892) “نگون”, in A Comprehensive Persian–English dictionary, London: Routledge & K. Paul