کلان

Persian

Regional synonyms of "big"

Dari	کلان
Iranian Persian	بُزُرگ
Tajik	калон

Alternative forms

• کلون (kalun) (dialectal, Herati)

Etymology

Borrowed from Parthian 𐫐𐫓𐫀𐫗 (klʾn /⁠kalān⁠/, “great, big; pure”). Related to Central Kurdish کەڵان (kellan, “big, great, giant”), کەڵە (kelle, “stud; male; male farm animal”) (as in کەڵەشێر (kelleşêr, “rooster”), کەڵەگا (kellega, “stud”)), Tat kələ (“great, big”) and the Armenian toponym Կաղանկատոյք (Kałankatoykʻ, literally “big habitation”). The ultimate origin is uncertain.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): /ka.ˈlaːn/

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [kʰä.lɑ́ːn]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [kʰä.lɑ́ːn]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [kʰä.lɑ́ːn]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [kʰä.lɔ́ːn], [kʰä.lú]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [kʰʲæ.lɒ́ːn]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [kʰä.lɔ́n]

• Rhymes: -aːn

Readings
Classical reading?	kalān
Dari reading?	kalān
Iranian reading?	kalân
Tajik reading?	kalon

Adjective

کلان • (kalān / kalân) (comparative کلان‌تَر, superlative کلان‌تَرین, Tajik spelling калон) (chiefly Dari)

1. big, huge, massive

   از خرد تا کلان (Dari)

   az xurd tā kalān

   the details, the exacts, everything

   (literally, “from small to big”)

   از خرد تا کلانش رو بهم توضیح داد (Iranian Persian)

   az xord tâ kalâneš ro behem towzih dâd

   they explained all the details to me

2. elder, older

Derived terms

• مادرکلان (mādar-kalān / mâdar-kalân)
• پدرکلان (padar-kalān / pedar-kalân)
• کلان شدن (kalān šudan / kalân šodan, “to grow up”)
• کلانتر (kalāntar / kalântar, “sheriff”)
• کلان‌شهر (kalān-šahr / kalân-šahr, “metropolis”)

Descendants

• → Azerbaijani: kalan
• → Haryanvi: कलाँ (kalā̃), कलां (kalā̃), कलान (kalān)
• → Hindustani:

  Hindi: कलाँ (kalā̃), कलां (kalā̃), कलान (kalān)

  Urdu: کَلَاں (kalā̃), کَلَان (kalān)

• → Punjabi:

  Gurmukhi script: ਕਲਾਂ (kalā̃), ਕਲਾਨ (kalān)

  Shahmukhi script: کَلَاں (kalāṉ), کَلَان (kalān)

• → Uzbek: kalon

References

• Durkin-Meisterernst, Desmond (2004), “klʾn”, in A Dictionary of Manichaean Middle Persian and Parthian (Corpus Fontium Manichaeorum; 3.1), Turnhout: Brepols, page 205b
• Edelʹman, D. I. (2011), Этимологический словарь иранских языков [Etimologičeskij slovarʹ iranskix jazykov, Etymological Dictionary of Iranian Languages] (in Russian), volume IV, Moscow: Vostochnaya Literatura, page 349
• Oranskij, I. M. (1970), “K imeni baktrijskovo (?) voždja ΚΑΤΆΝΗΣ (IV v. do n. e.) [To the name of the Bactrian (?) chieftain ΚΑΤΆΝΗΣ (IV cent. B. C.)]”, in Palestinskij sbornik‎^[1] (in Russian), volume 21 (84), pages 155–160
• کَلاں [کَلاں] (فارسی), quotee (2006), “کلاں”, in اردو لغت‎^[2]