# زندان
## Ottoman Turkish
### Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian زندان (zindān), itself from Middle Persian [Book Pahlavi needed] (zyndʾn' /⁠zēndān⁠/, “prison”).

### Noun

زندان • (zindân or zındân) (definite accusative زندانی (zindânı, zındânı), plural زندانلر (zindânlar, zındânlar))
* jail, prison, a place or institution for the confinement of persons held against their will in lawful custody or detention
    Synonyms: حبس (habs, habis), قفس (kafes)
* dungeon, oubliette, an underground prison typically built underneath a castle and accessible through a trapdoor or hatch
    Synonym: دیماس (dimâs)

#### Derived terms

* باشه زندان اولمق (başa zindân olmak, “to be very disagreeable to one”, literally “to become a prison over one's head”)
* ترسانه زندانی (tersâne zindânı, “arsenal's prison”)
* زندان خاموشان (zindân hamuşan, “the grave”)
* زندان دلن (zindân delen, “coryphene”)
* زندان قپوسی (zindân kapusu, “a gate of Istanbul”)
* زندان كلی (zindân gülü, “gallows bird”, literally “prison's flower”)
* زندانبان (zindânbân, “jailer, turnkey”)
* زندانجی (zindâncı, “jailer, turnkey”)
* زندانلمق (zindânlamak, “to imprison”)
* زندانه آتمق (zindâna atmak, “to imprison”)
* زندانه قویمق (zindâna koymak, “to imprison”)
* زندانی (zindânî, “pertaining to a prison”)

#### Descendants

* Turkish: zindan
* → Albanian: zindan
* → Aromanian: zindáne, zundáne, zãndáne
* → Bulgarian: занда́н (zandán)
* → Macedonian: зандана (zandana)
* → Romanian: zandán
* → Serbo-Croatian:
    Cyrillic script: зѝнда̄н
    Latin script: zìndān

### Further reading

* Barbier de Meynard, Charles (1886) “زندان”, in Dictionnaire turc-français, volume II, Paris: E. Leroux, page 47
* Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007) “zindan”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 5487
* Devellioğlu, Ferit (1962) “zindân”, in Osmanlıca-Türkçe Ansiklopedik Lûgat‎‎ (in Turkish), Istanbul: Türk Dil Kurumu, page 1429
* Kélékian, Diran (1911) “زندان”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎, Constantinople: Mihran, page 648
* Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1687) “Carcer”, 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 153
* Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1680) “زندان”, in Thesaurus linguarum orientalium, Turcicae, Arabicae, Persicae, praecipuas earum opes à Turcis peculiariter usurpatas continens, nimirum Lexicon Turkico-Arabico-Persicum‎, Vienna, column 2473
* Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “zindan”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
* Redhouse, James W. (1890) “زندان”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎, Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 1016

## Persian
### Etymology

From Middle Persian [Book Pahlavi needed] (zyndʾn' /⁠zēndān⁠/, “prison”). Ultimate origin uncertain. Perhaps originally "arsenal, armoury", from [Book Pahlavi needed] (zyn' /⁠zēn⁠/, “weapon, armour”) and [script needed] (-dʾn' /⁠-dān⁠/, “holder, container”).
Compare Old Armenian զնդան (zndan), Classical Syriac ܙܢܕܢܝܩ (zendānīq), Iranian borrowings.

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Persian) IPA: [zin.ˈdɑːn]
* (Dari, formal) IPA: [zɪn̪.d̪ɑ́ːn]
* (Dari, formal) IPA: [zɪn̪.d̪ɑ́ːn]
** (Kabuli) IPA: [zɪn̪.d̪ɑ́ːn]
** (Hazaragi) IPA: [zin̪.d̪ɔ́ːn]
* (Iran, formal) IPA: [zen̪.d̪ɒ́ːn]
* (Tajik, formal) IPA: [zin̪.d̪ɔ́n]
* Rhymes: -ɑːn

### Noun

زِندان • (zendân)
* jail, prison
    آنها می‌خواستند زندان برای ما قبر باشد؛ اما خدا را شکر، زندان را به عبادتگاه و فرهنگستان تبدیل کردیم. ― ân-hâ mixâstand zendân barây-e mâ qabr bâšad; ammâ xodâ râ šokr, zendân râ be ebâdatgâh o farhangestân tabdil kardim. ― They wanted prison to be a grave for us, but, thank God, we turned the prison into sanctuaries of worship and academies for study.

#### Related terms

* زندانی (zendâni)
* زندانبان (zendânbân)

#### Descendants

* → Azerbaijani: zindan
* → Kazakh: зындан (zyndan)
* → Middle Armenian: զնտան (zntan)
* → Northern Kurdish: zindan, zîndan
* → Ossetian: зындон (zyndon), зиндонӕ (zindonæ), дзиндонӕ (ʒindonæ)
* → Ottoman Turkish: زندان (zindân, zındân)
** Turkish: zindan
** → Albanian: zindan
** → Aromanian: zindáne, zundáne, zãndáne
** → Bulgarian: занда́н (zandán)
** → Macedonian: зандана (zandana)
** → Romanian: zandán
** → Serbo-Croatian:
    Cyrillic script: зѝнда̄н
    Latin script: zìndān
* → Uyghur: زىندان (zindan)
* → Urdu: زِنْدَان (zindān)

### Further reading

* Hübschmann, Heinrich (1897) Armenische Grammatik. 1. Theil: Armenische Etymologie (in German), Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, page 151
* Horn, Paul (1893) Grundriss der neupersischen Etymologie (in German), Strasbourg: K.J. Trübner, § 671, page 149

## Urdu
### Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian زِنْدَان (zindān). First attested in c. 1649 as Middle Hindi زندان (zndan /⁠zindān⁠/).

### Pronunciation

* (Standard Urdu) IPA: /zɪn.d̪ɑːn/
* Rhymes: -ɑːn
* Hyphenation: زِن‧دَان

### Noun

زِنْدَان • (zindān) m (Hindi spelling ज़िंदान)
* prison
    Synonyms: قَید خانَہ (qaid xāna), جیل (jel), جیل خانَہ (jel xāna)

#### Declension
### References

* ↑ “زندان”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.

### Further reading

* “زندان”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2025.
* Fallon, Platts, Qureshi, Shakespear (2024) “زندان”, in Digital Dictionaries of South Asia [Combined Urdu Dictionaries]