فرعون

Arabic

Etymology

The word is not attested before the Qurʾān and the probabilities are that the immediate source for the Arabic is the Classical Syriac ܦܹܪܥܘܼܢ (pɛrʕūn).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fir.ʕawn/

Proper noun

فِرْعَوْن • (firʕawn) m

1. (without article) Pharaoh (as a title, especially referring to the Quranic/Biblical antagonist of Moses)

Declension

Declension of proper noun فِرْعَوْن (firʕawn)

singular	basic singular diptote
	indefinite	definite	construct
informal	—	فِرْعَوْن firʕawn	—
nominative	—	فِرْعَوْنُ firʕawnu	—
accusative	—	فِرْعَوْنَ firʕawna	—
genitive	—	فِرْعَوْنَ firʕawna	—

Noun

فِرْعَوْن • (firʕawn) m (plural فَرَاعِنَة (farāʕina))

1. a pharaoh (an ancient Egyptian ruler)
2. (figurative) tyrant, despot

Declension

Declension of noun فِرْعَوْن (firʕawn)

singular	basic singular triptote
	indefinite	definite	construct
informal	فِرْعَوْن firʕawn	الْفِرْعَوْن al-firʕawn	فِرْعَوْن firʕawn
nominative	فِرْعَوْنٌ firʕawnun	الْفِرْعَوْنُ al-firʕawnu	فِرْعَوْنُ firʕawnu
accusative	فِرْعَوْنًا firʕawnan	الْفِرْعَوْنَ al-firʕawna	فِرْعَوْنَ firʕawna
genitive	فِرْعَوْنٍ firʕawnin	الْفِرْعَوْنِ al-firʕawni	فِرْعَوْنِ firʕawni
dual	indefinite	definite	construct
informal	فِرْعَوْنَيْن firʕawnayn	الْفِرْعَوْنَيْن al-firʕawnayn	فِرْعَوْنَيْ firʕawnay
nominative	فِرْعَوْنَانِ firʕawnāni	الْفِرْعَوْنَانِ al-firʕawnāni	فِرْعَوْنَا firʕawnā
accusative	فِرْعَوْنَيْنِ firʕawnayni	الْفِرْعَوْنَيْنِ al-firʕawnayni	فِرْعَوْنَيْ firʕawnay
genitive	فِرْعَوْنَيْنِ firʕawnayni	الْفِرْعَوْنَيْنِ al-firʕawnayni	فِرْعَوْنَيْ firʕawnay
plural	broken plural triptote in ـَة (-a)
	indefinite	definite	construct
informal	فَرَاعِنَة farāʕina	الْفَرَاعِنَة al-farāʕina	فَرَاعِنَة farāʕinat
nominative	فَرَاعِنَةٌ farāʕinatun	الْفَرَاعِنَةُ al-farāʕinatu	فَرَاعِنَةُ farāʕinatu
accusative	فَرَاعِنَةً farāʕinatan	الْفَرَاعِنَةَ al-farāʕinata	فَرَاعِنَةَ farāʕinata
genitive	فَرَاعِنَةٍ farāʕinatin	الْفَرَاعِنَةِ al-farāʕinati	فَرَاعِنَةِ farāʕinati

Derived terms

• تَفَرْعَنَ (tafarʕana)

Descendants

• Hijazi Arabic: فرعون (firʕōn)
• Maltese: fergħun
• → Classical Persian: فِرْعَوْن (fir'awn)
  • Tajik: фиръавн (fir'avn)
  • → Bashkir: фирғәүен (firğəwen)
  • → Bengali: ফেরাউন (pheraun)
  • → Hindustani:

    Hindi: फ़िरौन (firaun)

    Urdu: فِرْعَون (fir'aun)

  • → Uzbek: firʼavn
• → Malay: firaun
• → Ottoman Turkish: فرعون (fir'avun)
  • Turkish: firavun
• → Swahili: firauni

References

• Jeffery, Arthur (1938), The Foreign Vocabulary of the Qurʾān (Gaekwad’s Oriental Series; 79), Baroda: Oriental Institute, page 225
• Wehr, Hans (1979), “فرعون”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN

Further reading

• فرعون on the Arabic Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^ar

Hijazi Arabic

Etymology

From Arabic فِرْعَوْن (firʕawn).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fir.ʕoːn/, [fɪr.ʕo̞ːn]

Noun

فرعون • (firʕōn) m (plural فراعنة (farāʕna))

1. pharaoh

Kohistani Shina

Noun

فرعون (fir'on)

1. pharaoh

Ottoman Turkish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Egyptian pr

Egyptian ꜥꜣ

Egyptian pr-ꜥꜣbor.

Biblical Hebrew פַּרְעֹהbor.

Koine Greek Φαραών (Pharaṓn)bor.

Classical Syriac ܦܹܪܥܘܼܢbor.?

Arabic فِرْعَوْن (firʕawn)bor.

Ottoman Turkish فرعون

Borrowed from Arabic فِرْعَوْن (firʕawn), possibly borrowed from Classical Syriac ܦܹܪܥܘܼܢ, borrowed from Koine Greek Φαραών (Pharaṓn), borrowed from Biblical Hebrew פַּרְעֹה, borrowed from Egyptian pr-ꜥꜣ, from pr + ꜥꜣ.

Noun

فرعون • (firʼavun) (definite accusative فرعونی (firʼavunu), plural فرعونلر (firʼavunlar))

1. (historical) pharaoh, the supreme ruler of Ancient Egypt and the intermediary between the gods and the people

Derived terms

• فرعون انجیری (firʼavun inciri, “sycamore”)
• فرعون تاجی (firʼavun tacı, “bishop's mitre shell”)
• فرعون تپه‌سی (firʼavun tepesi, “pyramid”)
• فرعون فاره‌سی (firʼavun faresi, “ichneumon”)
• فرعونلق (firʼavunluk, “self-willedness”)
• فرعونی (firʼavnî, “self-willedness”)
• قوم فرعون (kavm-i firʼavun, “Egyptians”)

Descendants

• Turkish: firavun

Further reading

• Barbier de Meynard, Charles (1886), “فرعون”, in Dictionnaire turc-français, volume II, Paris: E. Leroux, page 410
• Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007), “firavun”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), volume 1, Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 1596
• Hindoglu, Artin (1838), “فرعون”, in Hazine-i lûgat ou dictionnaire abrégé turc-français‎^[1], Vienna: F. Beck, page 342a
• Kélékian, Diran (1911), “فرعون”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎^[2] (in French), Constantinople: Mihran, page 894
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1687), “Pharao”, 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 1295
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1680), “فرعون”, in Thesaurus linguarum orientalium, Turcicae, Arabicae, Persicae, praecipuas earum opes à Turcis peculiariter usurpatas continens, nimirum Lexicon Turkico-Arabico-Persicum‎^[4], Vienna, column 3502
• Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–), “firavun”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
• Redhouse, James W. (1890), “فرعون”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎^[5], Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 1377

Persian

Etymology

Etymology tree

Egyptian pr

Egyptian ꜥꜣ

Egyptian pr-ꜥꜣbor.

Biblical Hebrew פַּרְעֹהbor.

Koine Greek Φαραών (Pharaṓn)bor.

Classical Syriac ܦܹܪܥܘܼܢbor.?

Arabic فِرْعَوْن (firʕawn)bor.

Persian فِرْعَوْن

Borrowed from Arabic فِرْعَوْن (firʕawn), possibly borrowed from Classical Syriac ܦܹܪܥܘܼܢ, borrowed from Koine Greek Φαραών (Pharaṓn), borrowed from Biblical Hebrew פַּרְעֹה, borrowed from Egyptian pr-ꜥꜣ, from pr + ꜥꜣ.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): /fir.ˈʔawn/

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [fɪɾ.ʔäwn]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [fɪɾ.ʔäwn]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [fɪ.ɾäwn]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [fi.ɾäwn]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [feɹ.ʔown]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [fiɾ.ʔäwn]

Readings
Classical reading?	fir'awn
Dari reading?	fir'awn
Iranian reading?	fer'own
Tajik reading?	fir'avn

Noun

فرعون • (fir'awn / fer'own) (plural فراعنه (farā'ina / farâ'ene), or فرعون‌ها (fir'awn-hā / fer'own-hâ), Tajik spelling фиръавн)

1. pharaoh

Descendants

• Tajik: фиръавн (fir'avn)
• → Bashkir: фирғәүен (firğəwen)
• → Bengali: ফেরাউন (pheraun)
• → Hindustani:

  Hindi: फ़िरौन (firaun)

  Urdu: فِرْعَون (fir'aun)

• → Uzbek: firʼavn

Urdu

Etymology

Etymology tree

Egyptian pr

Egyptian ꜥꜣ

Egyptian pr-ꜥꜣbor.

Biblical Hebrew פַּרְעֹהbor.

Koine Greek Φαραών (Pharaṓn)bor.

Classical Syriac ܦܹܪܥܘܼܢbor.?

Arabic فِرْعَوْن (firʕawn)bor.

Classical Persian فِرْعَوْن (fir'awn)bor.

Urdu فِرْعَون (fir'aun)

Borrowed from Classical Persian فِرْعَوْن (fir'awn), borrowed from Arabic فِرْعَوْن (firʕawn), possibly borrowed from Classical Syriac ܦܹܪܥܘܼܢ, borrowed from Koine Greek Φαραών (Pharaṓn), borrowed from Biblical Hebrew פַּרְעֹה, borrowed from Egyptian pr-ꜥꜣ, from pr + ꜥꜣ.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /fɪɾ.(ʔ)ɔːn/, /fɪ.ɾɔːn/
• Rhymes: -ɔːn
• Hyphenation: فِر‧عَون, فِ‧رعَون

Noun

فِرْعَون • (fir'aun) m (formal plural فَراعِنَہ (farā'ina), Hindi spelling फ़िरौन or फ़िरऔन)

1. pharaoh

Declension

Declension of فرعون

	singular	plural
direct	فِرْعَون (fir'aun)	فِرْعَون (fir'aun)
oblique	فِرْعَون (fir'aun)	فِرْعَونوں (fir'aunõ)
vocative	فِرْعَون (fir'aun)	فِرْعَونو (fir'auno)

References

• “فرعون”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.
• “فرعون”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2025.