بلبل

See also: پلپل and bulbul

Arabic

Etymology

Onomatopoeic in origin, with its stem being reduplicated.

Noun

بُلْبُل • (bulbul) m (plural بَلَابِل (balābil))

1. nightingale; bulbul (Muscicapidae fam. et spp., Pycnonotidae fam. et spp. vel sim.)
2. a spinning top
3. a plumb bob

Declension

Declension of noun بُلْبُل (bulbul)

singular	basic singular triptote
	indefinite	definite	construct
informal	بُلْبُل bulbul	الْبُلْبُل al-bulbul	بُلْبُل bulbul
nominative	بُلْبُلٌ bulbulun	الْبُلْبُلُ al-bulbulu	بُلْبُلُ bulbulu
accusative	بُلْبُلًا bulbulan	الْبُلْبُلَ al-bulbula	بُلْبُلَ bulbula
genitive	بُلْبُلٍ bulbulin	الْبُلْبُلِ al-bulbuli	بُلْبُلِ bulbuli
dual	indefinite	definite	construct
informal	بُلْبُلَيْن bulbulayn	الْبُلْبُلَيْن al-bulbulayn	بُلْبُلَيْ bulbulay
nominative	بُلْبُلَانِ bulbulāni	الْبُلْبُلَانِ al-bulbulāni	بُلْبُلَا bulbulā
accusative	بُلْبُلَيْنِ bulbulayni	الْبُلْبُلَيْنِ al-bulbulayni	بُلْبُلَيْ bulbulay
genitive	بُلْبُلَيْنِ bulbulayni	الْبُلْبُلَيْنِ al-bulbulayni	بُلْبُلَيْ bulbulay
plural	basic broken plural diptote
	indefinite	definite	construct
informal	بَلَابِل balābil	الْبَلَابِل al-balābil	بَلَابِل balābil
nominative	بَلَابِلُ balābilu	الْبَلَابِلُ al-balābilu	بَلَابِلُ balābilu
accusative	بَلَابِلَ balābila	الْبَلَابِلَ al-balābila	بَلَابِلَ balābila
genitive	بَلَابِلَ balābila	الْبَلَابِلِ al-balābili	بَلَابِلِ balābili

Descendants

• Maltese: bilbla, belbul

References

• Nöldeke, Theodor (1904), Beiträge zur semitischen Sprachwissenschaft‎^[1] (in German), Straßburg: Karl J. Trübner, →DOI, pages 110–111

Baluchi

Noun

بلبل • (bulbul)

1. nightingale
2. bulbul

Burushaski

Etymology

From Classical Persian بلبل (bulbul).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [bulbul]

Noun

بلبل (bulbul) (plural بلبلشݸ)

1. nightingale

References

Sadaf Munshi (2015), “Word Lists”, in Burushaski Language Documentation Project‎^[2].

Ottoman Turkish

بلبل

Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian بلبل (bulbul, “nightingale”).

Noun

بلبل • (bülbül)

1. nightingale, a common songbird in the genus Luscinia

   Synonym: عندلیب (ʿandelib)

Derived terms

• بوقلوجه بلبل (bokluca bülbül, “wren”)
• چالی بلبلی (çalı bülbülü, “crested wren”)

Descendants

• Turkish: bülbül
• → Albanian: bilbil
• → Greek: μπιρμπίλι (birmpíli)
• → Ladino: bilbil
• → Northern Kurdish: bilbil
• → Serbo-Croatian: bulbul

Further reading

• Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007), “bülbül”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), volume 1, Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 721
• Kélékian, Diran (1911), “بلبل”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎^[3] (in French), Constantinople: Mihran, page 275
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1687), “Luscinia”, 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^[4], Vienna, column 983
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1680), “بلبل”, in Thesaurus linguarum orientalium, Turcicae, Arabicae, Persicae, praecipuas earum opes à Turcis peculiariter usurpatas continens, nimirum Lexicon Turkico-Arabico-Persicum‎^[5], Vienna, column 873
• Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–), “bülbül”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
• Redhouse, James W. (1890), “بلبل”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎^[6], Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 380

Pashto

Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian بلبل (bulbul).

Noun

بلبل • (bulbul) m

1. nightingale

Persian

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *balbal- (“babbling, unclear speech”) (compare Latin balbus (“stammering”)), or from Arabic بُلْبُل (bulbul), both derivations of ultimate onomatopoeic origin.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): /bul.ˈbul/

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [bʊl.bʊ́l]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [bʊl.bʊ́l]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [bʊl.bʊ́l]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [bul.búl̥]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [bol.ból̥]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [bul.búl]

Readings
Classical reading?	bulbul
Dari reading?	bulbul
Iranian reading?	bolbol
Tajik reading?	bulbul

• Rhymes: -ol

Noun

Dari	بلبل
Iranian Persian
Tajik	булбул

بلبل • (bolbol)

1. nightingale
2. bulbul

Synonyms

• هزاردستان (hazâr-dastân)
• هزارآوا (hezâr-âvâ)
• شباهنگ (šabâhang)
• عندلیب ('andalib)
• زندواف (zandvâf)

Descendants

• → Azerbaijani: bülbül
• → Baluchi: بلبل
• → Bashkir: былбыл (bılbıl)
• → Bengali: বুলবুল (bulbul)
• → Burushaski: bulbul
• → Georgian: ბულბული (bulbuli)
• → Hindustani:

  Hindi: बुलबुल (bulbul)

  Urdu: بلبل (bulbul)

• → Kazakh: бұлбұл (būlbūl)
• → Kyrgyz: булбул (bulbul)
• → Middle Armenian: բլբուլ (blbul), պլպուլ (plpul)
  • → Armenian: բլբուլ (blbul)
• → Ottoman Turkish: بلبل (bülbül)
  • Turkish: bülbül
  • → Albanian: bilbil
  • → Greek: μπιρμπίλι (birmpíli)
  • → Ladino: bilbil
  • → Northern Kurdish: bilbil
  • → Serbo-Croatian: bulbul
• → Punjabi:

  Gurmukhi script: ਬੁਲਬੁਲ (bulbul)

  Shahmukhi script: بلبل (bulbul)

Urdu

Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian بلبل (bulbul), from Arabic بُلْبُل (bulbul).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /bʊl.bʊl/
• Rhymes: -ʊl
• Hyphenation: بُل‧بُل

Noun

بُلْبُل • (bulbul) f (Hindi spelling बुलबुल)

1. nightingale; bulbul
   • 1904, Muhammad Iqbal, Tarānā-e-Hind:

     سارے جہاں سے اچھا ہندوستاں ہَمارا
     ہم بلبلیں ہیں اس کی، یہ گلستاں ہمارا

     sāre jahā̃ se acchā hindostā̃ hamārā
     ham bulbulẽ ha͠i is kī, ye gulistā̃ hamārā

     Better than the whole world, is our Hindustan;
     We are its nightingales, and it is our flower-garden.

2. (figuratively) beloved

Declension

Declension of بلبل

	singular	plural
direct	بُلْبُل (bulbul)	بُلْبُلیں (bulbulẽ)
oblique	بُلْبُل (bulbul)	بُلْبُلوں (bulbulõ)
vocative	بُلْبُل (bulbul)	بُلْبُلو (bulbulo)

Further reading

• “بلبل”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.
• “بلبل”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2026.
• Qureshi, Bashir Ahmad (1971), “بلبل”, in Kitabistan's 20th Century Standard Dictionary, Lahore: Kitabistan Pub. Co.