زندان

Ottoman Turkish

زندان

Etymology

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

Noun

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)

Derived terms

• باشه زندان اولمق (başa zindân olmak, “to be very disagreeable to one”, literally “to become a prison over one's head”)
• ترسانه زندانی (tersâne zindânı, “arsenal's prison”)
• زندان خاموشان (zindân hamuşan, “the grave”)
• زندان دلن (zindân delen, “coryphene”)
• زندان قپوسی (zindân kapusu, “a gate of Istanbul”)
• زندان كلی (zindân gülü, “gallows bird”, literally “prison's flower”)
• زندانبان (zindânbân, “jailer, turnkey”)
• زندانجی (zindâncı, “jailer, turnkey”)
• زندانلمق (zindânlamak, “to imprison”)
• زندانه آتمق (zindâna atmak, “to imprison”)
• زندانه قویمق (zindâna koymak, “to imprison”)
• زندانی (zindânî, “pertaining to a prison”)

Descendants

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

  Cyrillic script: зѝнда̄н

  Latin script: zìndān

Further reading

• 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

Persian

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): /zin.ˈdaːn/

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [zɪn̪.d̪ɑ́ːn]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [zɪn̪.d̪ɑ́ːn]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [zɪn̪.d̪ɑ́ːn]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [zin̪.d̪ɔ́ːn]

 

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [zen̪.d̪ɒ́ːn]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [zen̪.d̪ɒ́ːn]
  • (Tehrani) IPA^(key): [zen̪.d̪úːn]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [zin̪.d̪ɔ́n]

Readings
Classical reading?	zindān
Dari reading?	zindān
Iranian reading?	zendân
Tajik reading?	zindon

• Rhymes: -ɑːn

Noun

زندان • (zindān / zendân) (Tajik spelling зиндон)

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.

Related terms

• زندانی (zendâni)
• زندانبان (zendânbân)

Descendants

• → Azerbaijani: zindan
• → Kazakh: зындан (zyndan)
• → Middle Armenian: զնտան (zntan)
• → Northern Kurdish: zindan, zîndan
• → Ossetian: зындон (zyndon), зиндонӕ (zindonæ), дзиндонӕ (ʒindonæ)
• → Ottoman Turkish: زندان (zindân, zındân)
  • Turkish: zindan
  • → Albanian: zindan
  • → Aromanian: zindáne, zundáne, zãndáne
  • → Bulgarian: занда́н (zandán)
  • → Macedonian: зандана (zandana)
  • → Romanian: zandán
  • → Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: зѝнда̄н

    Latin script: zìndān

• → Uyghur: زىندان (zindan)
• → Urdu: زِنْدَان (zindān)

Further reading

• 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

Urdu

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

Noun

زِنْدَان • (zindān) m (Hindi spelling ज़िंदान)

1. prison

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

Declension

Declension of زندان

	singular	plural
direct	زِنْدَان (zindān)	زِنْدَان (zindān)
oblique	زِنْدَان (zindān)	زِنْدَانوں (zindānõ)
vocative	زِنْدَان (zindān)	زِنْدَانو (zindāno)

Further reading

• “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]