# زنگ
## Persian
### Pronunciation

* (Classical Persian) IPA: [zanɡ]
* (Dari, formal) IPA: [zäŋɡ]
* (Dari, formal) IPA: [zäŋɡ]
** (Kabuli) IPA: [zäŋɡ]
** (Hazaragi) IPA: [zäŋɡ̥]
* (Iran, formal) IPA: [zæɲɡʲ̥]
* (Tajik, formal) IPA: [zäŋɡ]

### Etymology 1

Cognate with Central Kurdish ژەنگ (jeng), Northern Kurdish jeng, Baluchi زنگ (zang), and with Iranian borrowings in Old Armenian ժանգ (žang), and Caucasian languages such as Georgian ჟანგი (žangi), ჯანგი (ǯangi).
Perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *geng- (“lump”) and cognate with Ancient Greek γόγγρος (góngros, “tubercular disease in olive-trees”). For the sense development compare the meanings "cancer", "disease of plants" found in some of the cognates.

#### Noun

زَنگ • (zang)
* rust
    Synonym: (dialectal) منگ (mang)

##### Alternative forms

* ژنگ (žang)

##### Derived terms

* زنگ زدن (zang zadan, “to rust”)
* زنگار (zangâr, “verdigris”)
* زنگی (zangi, “rusty”)

##### Descendants

* → Bengali: জং (joṅ)
* → Chagatai: زنگ (zang)
** Uzbek: zang
** Uyghur: زەڭ (zeng)
* → Gujarati: ઝંગ (jhaṅg)
* → Hindustani:
    Hindi: ज़ंग (zaṅg)
    Urdu: زَنگ (zaṅg)
* → Punjabi:
    Gurmukhi script: ਜ਼ੰਗ (zaṅg)
    Shahmukhi script: زَنگ (zang)

### Etymology 2

Cognate with Central Kurdish زەنگ (zeng). Compare the Iranian borrowings: Old Armenian զանգակ (zangak), Classical Syriac ܙܓܐ (zaggā), ܙܢܓܐ (zangā). Also compare زونگل (zavangol, “bell”).
Perhaps ultimately an Inner Asian Wanderwort from Chinese. Compare Ottoman Turkish چاڭ (çaŋ, “bell”) whence modern Turkish çan; Chulym şaŋ (“bell”); Bashkir саң (sañ); Old Uyghur [script needed] (čaŋ, “bell; cymbals”); Shor шаң (“bell”); Khakas саң (sañ, “bell”); all perhaps from Middle Chinese 鉦 (MC tsyeng, “gong”).

#### Noun

زَنگ • (zang)
* bell
    زنگِ درب ― zang-e darb ― doorbell
    زنگِ آژیر ― zang-e âžir ― alarm bell
* ring, call

##### Derived terms

* زنگ زدن (zang zadan, “to call”)

##### Descendants

* → Middle Armenian: զանկ (zank)
** Armenian: զանգ (zang)
* → Azerbaijani: zəng
** → Udi: заьнҝ (zängʲ)
* → Gujarati: ઝંગ (jhaṅg)

### Etymology 3

From Middle Persian *zang, reconstructible based on attested Middle Persian [script needed] (zngyk' /⁠zangīg⁠/, “Black person”). Beyond this, it is probably related to Ancient Greek Ἀζανία (Azanía), the name for an East African region in the first century AD, and to Ancient Greek Ζήγγισα (Zḗngisa), the Greek name of a cape in what is now southern Somalia. It may ultimately be the name of some local group.

#### Proper noun

زَنگ • (zang)
* (archaic or historical) the “Land of the Blacks”; Sub-Saharan East Africa; Abyssinia (in the vague sense); Zanj
* (archaic) Zanzibar

##### Derived terms

* زنگبار (zangebâr)
* زنگستان (zangestân)
* زنگی (zangi)
* رنگ زنگ (rang-e zang)
* سیاه زنگی (siyâh-e zangi)
* نه رومی روم، نه زنگی زنگ (na rumi-ye rum, na zangi-ye zang)
* یا رومی روم، یا زنگی زنگ (yâ rumi-ye rum, yâ zangi-ye zang)

##### Descendants

* → Arabic: زَنْج (zanj)
** → English: Zanj
* → Gujarati: ઝંગ (jhaṅg)

### References

* ↑ Olsen, Birgit Anette (1999) The noun in Biblical Armenian: origin and word-formation: with special emphasis on the Indo-European heritage (Trends in linguistics. Studies and monographs; 119), Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter, page 883

## Urdu
### Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian زنگ (zang).

### Pronunciation

* (Standard Urdu) IPA: /zəŋɡ/

### Noun

زَن٘گ • (zaṅg) m (Hindi spelling ज़ंग)
* rust
* a small bell
* blackness

### References

* “زنگ”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.
* “زنگ”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2025.