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
• → Bashkir: фирғәүен (firğəwen)
• → Bengali: ফেরাউন (pheraun)
• → Hindustani:

  Hindi: फ़िरौन (firaun)

  Urdu: فرعون (firaun)

• → Malay: firaun
• → Ottoman Turkish: فرعون (firʼavun)
  • Turkish: firavun
• → Persian: فرعون (fer'own)
• → Swahili: firauni
• → Tajik: фиръавн (firʾavn)
• → Uzbek: firʼavn

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

Borrowed from Arabic فِرْعَوْن (firʕawn, “pharaoh”), probably from Classical Syriac ܦܹܪܥܘܼܢ (pɛrʕūn).

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-willed craft”)
• فرعونی (firʼavunî, “self-willed craft”)

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], 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

Borrowed from the Arabic فِرْعَوْن (firʕawn).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): [fiɾ.ʔawn]

 

• (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?	firʾavn

Noun

Dari	فرعون
Iranian Persian
Tajik	фиръавн

فرعون • (fer'own) (plural فراعنه (farâ'ene) or فرعون‌ها (fer'own-hâ))

1. pharaoh

Urdu

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic فِرْعَوْن (firʕawn).

Pronunciation

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

Noun

فرعون • (fir‘aun) m (formal plural فراعنہ, Hindi spelling फ़िरौन)

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)

Descendants

• → Hindi: फ़िरऔन (firaaun), फ़िरौन (firaun)

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.