# بلبل
## Arabic
### Etymology

Onomatopoeic reduplicated

### Noun

بُلْبُل • (bulbul) m (plural بَلَابِل (balābil))
* nightingale; bulbul (Muscicapidae fam. et spp., Pycnonotidae fam. et spp. vel sim.)
* a spinning top
* a plumb bob

#### Descendants

* Maltese: bilbla, belbul

### References

* Nöldeke, Theodor (1904) Beiträge zur semitischen Sprachwissenschaft‎ (in German), Straßburg: Karl J. Trübner, pages 110–111

## Baluchi
### Noun

بلبل • (bulbul)
* nightingale
* bulbul

## Burushaski
### Etymology

From Classical Persian بلبل (bulbul).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [bulbul]

### Noun

بلبل (bulbul) (plural بلبلشݸ)
* nightingale

### References

Sadaf Munshi (2015) “Word Lists”, in Burushaski Language Documentation Project‎.

## Ottoman Turkish
### Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian بلبل (bulbul, “nightingale”).

### Noun

بلبل • (bülbül)
* nightingale, a common songbird in the genus Luscinia
    Synonym: عندلیب (ʿandelib)

#### Derived terms

* بوقلوجه بلبل (bokluca bülbül, “wren”)
* چالی بلبلی (çalı bülbülü, “crested wren”)

#### Descendants

* Turkish: bülbül
* → Albanian: bilbil
* → Greek: μπιρμπίλι (birmpíli)
* → Ladino: bilbil
* → Northern Kurdish: bilbil
* → Serbo-Croatian: bulbul

### Further reading

* Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007) “bülbül”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), volume 1, Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 721
* Kélékian, Diran (1911) “بلبل”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎, Constantinople: Mihran, page 275
* Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1687) “Luscinia”, 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, Vienna, column 983
* Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1680) “بلبل”, in Thesaurus linguarum orientalium, Turcicae, Arabicae, Persicae, praecipuas earum opes à Turcis peculiariter usurpatas continens, nimirum Lexicon Turkico-Arabico-Persicum‎, Vienna, column 873
* Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “bülbül”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
* Redhouse, James W. (1890) “بلبل”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎, Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 380

## Pashto
### Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian بلبل (bulbul).

### Noun

بلبل • (bulbul) m
* nightingale

## Persian
### Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *bal-bal- (“babbling, unclear speech”), or from Arabic بُلْبُل (bulbul).

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Persian) IPA: [bul.ˈbul]
* (Dari, formal) IPA: [bʊl.bʊ́l]
* (Dari, formal) IPA: [bʊl.bʊ́l]
** (Kabuli) IPA: [bʊl.bʊ́l]
** (Hazaragi) IPA: [bul.búl̥]
* (Iran, formal) IPA: [bol.ból̥]
* (Tajik, formal) IPA: [bul.búl]
* Rhymes: -ol

### Noun

بلبل • (bolbol)
* nightingale
* bulbul

#### Synonyms

* هزاردستان (hazâr-dastân)
* هزارآوا (hezâr-âvâ)
* شباهنگ (šabâhang)
* عندلیب ('andalib)
* زندواف (zandvâf)

#### Descendants

* → Azerbaijani: bülbül
* → Baluchi: بلبل
* → Bashkir: былбыл (bılbıl)
* → Bengali: বুলবুল (bulbul)
* → Burushaski: bulbul
* → Georgian: ბულბული (bulbuli)
* → Hindustani:
    Hindi: बुलबुल (bulbul)
    Urdu: بلبل (bulbul)
* → Kazakh: бұлбұл (būlbūl)
* → Kyrgyz: булбул (bulbul)
* → Middle Armenian: բլբուլ (blbul), պլպուլ (plpul)
** → Armenian: բլբուլ (blbul)
* → Ottoman Turkish: بلبل (bülbül)
** Turkish: bülbül
** → Albanian: bilbil
** → Greek: μπιρμπίλι (birmpíli)
** → Ladino: bilbil
** → Northern Kurdish: bilbil
** → Serbo-Croatian: bulbul
* → Punjabi:
    Gurmukhi script: ਬੁਲਬੁਲ (bulbul)
    Shahmukhi script: بلبل (bulbul)

## Urdu
### Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian بلبل (bulbul), from Arabic بُلْبُل (bulbul).

### Pronunciation

* (Standard Urdu) IPA: /bʊl.bʊl/
* Rhymes: -ʊl
* Hyphenation: بُل‧بُل

### Noun

بُلْبُل • (bulbul) f (Hindi spelling बुलबुल)
* nightingale; bulbul
** 1904, Muhammad Iqbal, Tarānā-e-Hind :سارے جہاں سے اچھا ہندوستاں ہَمارا ہم بلبلیں ہیں اس کی، یہ گلستاں ہماراsāre jahā̃ se acchā hindostā̃ hamārā ham bulbulẽ ha͠i is kī, ye gulistā̃ hamārāBetter than the whole world, is our Hindustan; We are its nightingales, and it is our flower-garden.
* (figuratively) beloved

#### Declension
### Further reading

* “بلبل”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.
* “بلبل”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2025.
* Qureshi, Bashir Ahmad (1971) “بلبل”, in Kitabistan's 20th Century Standard Dictionary‎, Lahore: Kitabistan Pub. Co.