yakhchal

English

A yakhchal

Etymology

Borrowed from Persian یخچال (literally “ice pit”).

Noun

yakhchal (plural yakhchals)

1. (architecture) An type of icehouse, built mainly in Persia (present-day Iran), that functions as an evaporative cooler, having a domed shape above ground and a subterranean storage space.
   • 2014, Somaiyeh Falahat, Re-imaging the City, Springer, page 155:

     Furthermore, constructions such as the Yakhchal and Abanbar, which were built exclusively to stock water, had to have direct access to water courses.

   • 2016, Zeeshan Khan, Right to Passage, SAGE Publishing, Yoda Press, page 217:

     Jawaad takes us first to the Kerman Library, a stately old building with beautiful arches that, oddly enough, began life as a textile factory, and then to the parks around the yakhchal or icehouse. Yakhchals are a staggering feat of ancient engineering.

   • 2019, Amir A. Afkhami, A Modern Contagion, JHU Press, page 151:

     Owners of ice pits (yakhchal) were required to guarantee the purity and hygiene of the water and pits that they used in making ice.

Usage notes

• Often italicised.
• There is some overlap between buildings called yakhchal and those called abanbar (“water reservoir”).

Further reading

• Ab anbar on Wikipedia.Wikipedia