# زبان
## Baluchi
### Noun

زبان • (zabán)
* tongue
* language

### See also

* زوان (zawán)

## Persian
### Alternative forms

* زفان (zofân, zafân), زوان (zovân, zavân), زوون (zoun, zowun), (colloquial, Iran) زبون (zabun)

### Etymology

Inherited from Middle Persian [script needed] (ŠNA) / [script needed] (ʾwzwʾn' /⁠uzwān⁠/) (Middle Persian 𐫙𐫉𐫇𐫀𐫗 (ʿzwʾn /⁠izwān⁠/)), from Proto-Iranian *hižwáH (compare Northern Kurdish ziman, Pashto ژبه (žəba), Avestan 𐬵𐬍𐬰𐬎𐬎𐬁 (hīzuuā)), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *ȷ́iȷ́ʰwáH (compare Sanskrit जिह्वा (jihvā), Urdu جِیبھ (jībh) / Hindi जीभ (jībh)), from Proto-Indo-European *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s (compare Old Prussian insuwis, Russian язы́к (jazýk), French langue, English tongue).

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Persian) IPA: [za.ˈβɑːn]
* (Dari, formal) IPA: [zä.bɑ́ːn], [zʊ.bɑ́ːn]
* (Dari, formal) IPA: [zä.bɑ́ːn], [zʊ.bɑ́ːn]
** (Kabuli) IPA: [zä.bɑ́ːn], [zʊ.bɑ́ːn]
** (Hazaragi) IPA: [zä.bɔ́ːn], [zu.bɔ́ːn]
* (Iran, formal) IPA: [zæ.bɒ́ːn]
* (Tajik, formal) IPA: [zä.bɔ́n]
* (Hamadan) IPA: [zeˈbɒːn]
* Audio (Iran):(file)

### Noun

زبان • (zabân, zobân) (plural زبان‌ها (zabân-hâ))
* tongue (body part)
** c. 1260s, Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Rūmī, translated by Reynold A. Nicholson, مثنوی معنوی [Masnavi-ye-Ma'navi], volume II, verse 269:بَر زَبَان نَامِ حَقّ و دَر جَانِ او گَنْدهَا اَز فِکْرِ بی‌اِیمَانِ اوbar zabān nām-i haqq u dar jān-i ō gand-hā az fikr-i bē-īmān-i ōOn his tongue the name of God And in his soul stenches from his infidel thought.
** c. 1520, Selim I of the Ottoman Empire, edited by Benedek Péri, The Persian Dīvān of Yavuz Sulṭān Selīm, Budapest, Hungary: Research Centre for the Humanities, Eötvös Loránd Research Network, →ISBN, page 184:مباد از دهن من دمی زبان تو دور که از لبم نشود ذره دهان تو دورmabād az dahan-i man damē zabān-i tō dūr ki az labam našawad zarra-yi dahān-i tō dūrMay your tongue never be far from my mouth for even a moment, So that your minuscule mouth never gets far from my lips.(Classical Persian transliteration)
* language
    در زبان اردو، این کلمه به معنی « بزرگ » است.dar zabân-e ordu, in kalame be ma'ni-ye "bozorg" ast.In the Urdu language, this word means "big".
** c. 1260s, Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Rūmī, translated by Reynold A. Nicholson, مثنوی معنوی [Masnavi-ye-Ma'navi], volume I, verse 1206:اَی بَسَا هِنْدُو و تُرْکِ هَم زَبَان اَی بَسَا دُو تُرْک چون بیگَانَگَانay basā hindū u turk-i ham zabān ay basā dū turk čōn bēgānagānOh, many are the Indians and Turks that speak the same tongue; oh, many the pair of Turks that are as strangers [to each other].
** c. 1650, Čandra Bhān, دیوان برهمن [The Brahman's divan]:بَرَهْمَن اَز لَبِ هِنْدِی نَژَادَان نُکْتَه می‌سَنْجَد زَبَانِ پَارْسِی و تُرْکِی و تَازِی نَمی‌دَانَد.barahman az lab-i hindī nažādān nukta mē-sanjad zabān-i pārsī u turkī u tāzī namē-dānad.[This] brahman weighs his subtle wits with lips of Hindi lineage he knows not the Persian nor the Turkish nor the Arabic tongues.(Mughal Persian)
** c. 1655, دبستان مذاهب [Dabistān-i Mazāhib]:وَ یَزْدَان بَهْرِ آبَاد نَامِه‌ای فِرِسْتَاد دَسَاتیرِ نَام کِه دَر او هَر دَانِش و هَمِه زَبَان بود.va yazdân bahr-e âbâd nâme-i ferestâd dasâtir-e nâm ke dar u har dâneš o hame zabân bud.And God sent for Ābād's sake a book, Dasātir by name, within which there is all knowledge and every language.

#### Derived terms

* به زبان آوردن
* تحول زبان (“language change”)
* دستور زبان
* دوزبانه (“bilingual”)
* دگرگشت زبان (“language shift”)
* زبان آمیخته
* زبان اشاره (zabân-e ešâre, “sign language”)
* زبان اقلیت
* زبان اول
* زبان بره
* زبان برونی
* زبان بومی
* زبان تحلیلی
* زبان ترکیبی
* زبان تماس
* زبان دختر
* زبان درونی
* زبان رسمی
* زبان ساختگی
* زبان صوری
* زبان طبیعی
* زبان فراساخته
* زبان مادری (zabân-e mâdari)
* زبان ماشین
* زبان مجاز (“figurative language”)
* زبان مرده (“dead language”)
* زبان میانجی (“lingua franca, interlingua”)
* زبان پیوندی
* زبان کمکی (“auxiliary language”)
* زبان گنجشک
* زباناً (zabânan, “orally, verbally”)
* زبانی (zabâni)
* زبان‌شناس (zabân-šenâs)
* زبان‌شناسی (zabân-šenâsi)
* فرازبان (“metalanguage”)
* فراگیری زبان (“language acquisition”)
* لغزش زبان
* نیم‌زبان (“pidgin”)
* چندزبانه

#### Descendants

* → Azerbaijani: zəban
* → Bengali: জবান (joban)
* → Rohingya:
    Latin script: zuban
    Hanifi Rohingya script: 𐴎𐴟𐴁𐴝𐴕 (zuban)
* → Hindustani:
    Hindi: ज़बान (zabān)
    Urdu: زَبَان (zabān), زُباں (zubā̃) — poetic
*   * → Phalura: zabaán
* → Kashmiri: زَبان (zabān)
* → Punjabi: ਜ਼ਬਾਨ (zabān)
* → Sylheti: ꠎꠛꠣꠘ (zoban)
* → Uzbek: zabon

### References

* MacKenzie, D. N. (1971) “uzwān”, in A concise Pahlavi dictionary, London, New York, Toronto: Oxford University Press, page 85

## Sindhi
### Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian زُبَان (zubān).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [zʊbɑnə]

### Noun

زُبانَ • (zubāna) f (Devanagari ज़ुबान)
* (anatomy) tongue
* language

### References

* Khānu, Balocu (1960–1988) “زُبانَ”, in Jāmiʻ Sindhī lughāta (in Sindhi), Hyderabad, Sindh: Sindhī Adabī Borḍ

## Urdu
### Alternative forms

* زُباں (zubā̃) — poetic

### Etymology

First attested in c. 1603 as Middle Hindi زبان (zban /⁠zabān⁠/), borrowed from Classical Persian زبان (zabān, zubān), ultimately from Proto-Iranian *hižwáH, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *ȷ́iȷ́ʰwáH. Doublet of جِیبھ (jībh).

### Pronunciation

* (Standard Urdu) IPA: /zə.bɑːn/, /zʊ.bɑːn/
* Audio (Pakistan):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɑːn
* Hyphenation: ز‧بان

### Noun

زَبان or زُبان • (zabān or zubān) f (Hindi spelling ज़बान or ज़ुबान)
* (anatomy) tongue
    Synonyms: جِیبھ (jībh), لِسان (lisān)
* language, vernacular
    Synonyms: لِسان (lisān), بولِی (bolī), بھاکھا (bhākhā), بھاشا (bhāśā)
* (by extension) the manner of speaking
* word (i.e. a promise)
* the tip (of a pen; flame of a candle etc.)

#### Usage notes

Although zabān and zubān are both considered correct, some Urdu scholars are of the opinion that zabān merely refers to the body part, i.e. tongue, whereas zubān refers to a language or speech, and sometimes vice versa, although there is no consensus for this. Shakespear, Platts, Fallon all attest both variants. Shams-ur-Rahman Farooqi, in his dictionary luġāt roz marra (pages 205-206), notes that the term زبان (/⁠zbān⁠/) is pronounced as zubān in Delhi and many of the Eastern [Indian Urdu] dialects, and in other parts zabān.

#### Derived terms

* اِشَاروں کِی زُبَان (iśārõ kī zubān, “sign language”)
* اِشَارَاتِی زُبَان (iśārātī zubān, “sign language”)
* زُبَانِ اِشَارَہ (zubān-i iśāra, “sign language”)
* زُبَانِی (zubānī, “verbally, orally; by memory”)
* مَادْرِی زُبَان (mādrī zubān, “mother tongue, native language”)

#### Descendants

* → Phalura: zabaán

### References

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

### Further reading

* “زبان”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2025.
* Qureshi, Bashir Ahmad (1971) “زبان”, in Kitabistan's 20th Century Standard Dictionary‎, Lahore: Kitabistan Pub. Co.
* Platts, John T. (1884) “زبان”, in A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English, London: W. H. Allen & Co.
* S. W. Fallon (1879) “زبان”, in A New Hindustani-English Dictionary, Banaras, London: Trubner and Co.
* John Shakespear (1834) “زبان”, in A dictionary, Hindustani and English: with a copious index, fitting the work to serve, also, as a dictionary of English and Hindustani, 3rd edition, London: J.L. Cox and Son, →OCLC

## Yemeni Arabic
### Etymology

Cognate to Egyptian Arabic زَمُكَّة (zamukka), زَلَمُكَّة (zalamukka, “fundament of a fowl”), Moroccan Arabic زك (zukk, “arse”), Ge'ez ዘባን (zäban, “back”), Tigre and Tigrinya ዝባን (zəban, “back”).

### Noun

زَبَان (zabān)
* bum, fundament, abdomen
* loins, hips

### References

* Landberg, Carlo, editor (1942), Glossaire daṯînois‎ (in French), Leiden: Brill, page 1821
* Piamenta, Moshe (1991) Dictionary of Post-Classical Yemeni Arabic, Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 196b