prison

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Old French prison, from Latin prehensiōnem, accusative singular of prehensiō, from the verb prehendō.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• IPA: /ˈpɹɪzən/
• Rhymes: -ɪzən

Noun

prison (countable and uncountable; plural prisons)

1. A place of long-term confinement for those convicted of serious crimes, or otherwise considered undesirable by the government.

   The cold stone walls of the prison had stood for over a century.

2. (uncountable) Confinement in prison.

   Prison was a harrowing experience for him.

3. (colloquial) Any restrictive environment, such as a harsh academy or home.

   The academy was a prison for many of its students because of its strict teachers.

Synonyms

• (place): bridewell; see also Wikisaurus:prison.
• (confinement): imprisonment

Coordinate terms

• (place): gaol, jail

Derived terms

Terms derived from prison

imprison prison camp prison cell prison chaser

prisoner prison guard prisonhouse prison officer

prison record prison sentence prison warden

Translations

place of long-term confinement for those convicted of serious crimes

• Abkhaz: please add this translation if you can
• Albanian: burg (sq) m
• Arabic: سجن (ar) (sijn) m
• Armenian: բանտ (hy) (bant) 
• Avar: please add this translation if you can
• Azeri: həbsxana (az)
• Basque: espetxe (eu)
• Bulgarian: затвор (bg) (zatvor) m , дранголник (bg) (drangolnik) m 
• Burmese: အကျဥ်းထောင် (my) (ăchin:htaung), ထောင် (my) (htaung)
• Catalan: presó (ca) f
• Chechen: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 監獄 (cmn), 监狱 (cmn) (jiānyù), 監牢 (cmn), 监牢 (cmn) (jiānláo), 班房 (cmn) (bānfáng)

• Czech: vězení (cs) n
• Danish: fængsel (da)
• Dutch: gevangenis (nl) f
• Esperanto: malliberejo (eo)
• Estonian: türm (et)
• Faroese: fongsul (fo) n
• Finnish: vankila (fi)
• French: prison (fr) f, (slang) cabane (fr) f

  Old French: prison f

• Georgian: ციხე (ka) (c'ixe) , საპატიმრო (ka) (sapatimro) 
• German: Gefängnis (de) n
• Greek: φυλακή (el) (fylaki) f , δεσμωτήριο (el) (ðesmotírio) n 
• Gujarati: તુરંગ (gu) (turaṅga)
• Hebrew: כלא (he) (kéle) m
• Hindi: कारागार (hi) (kārāgār), बन्दीघर (hi) (bandīghar), जेल (hi) (jel), क़ैदख़ाना (hi) (qaidxānā)
• Hungarian: börtön (hu)
• Icelandic: fangelsi (is) n
• Irish: príosún (ga) m
• Italian: prigione (it) f, carcere (it) m
• Japanese: 監獄 (ja) (かんごく, kangoku), 刑務所 (ja) (けいむしょ, keimusho)
• Kazakh: түрме (kk) (türme) 

• Khmer: គុក (km) (kuk), ពន្ធនាគារ (km) (pʊən niekie rɔɔ)
• Korean: 교도소 (ko) (gyodoso)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: به‌ندیخانه (ku) (bandeekhAna), گرتوخانه (ku) (girtookhAna), زندان (ku) (zindan)

• Latin: carcer (la) m
• Latvian: cietums (lv) m
• Lithuanian: kalėjimas (lt)
• Luxembourgish: Prisong (lb) m
• Maltese: ħabs (mt)
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Navajo: awáalya
• Norwegian: fengsel (no) n
• Ossetian: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: więzienie (pl) n
• Portuguese: prisão (pt) f, cadeia (pt) f, xadrez (pt) m (slang, Brazil)
• Romanian: închisoare (ro), pușcărie (ro), temniță (ro)
• Russian: тюрьма (ru) (tjur’má) f , (dated) острог (ru) (ostróg) m , (slang) кутузка (ru) (kutúzka) f , каталажка (ru) (katalážka) f , тюряга (ru) (tjurjága) f 
• Serbo-Croatian: zatvor (sh), tamnica (sh)
• Slovene: zapor (sl) m, ječa (sl) f
• Spanish: cárcel (es) f, prisión (es) f, penitenciaría (es) f
• Swahili: jela (sw)
• Swedish: fängelse (sv) n
• Tamil: சிறை (ta) (ciṟai), சிறைச்சாலை (ta) (ciṟai-c-cālai)
• Telugu: జైలు (te) (jailu), కారాగారం (te) (kaaraagaaram)
• Thai: คุก (th) (kúk)
• Tibetan: བཙོན་ཁང (bo) (btson khang)
• Turkish: please add this translation if you can
• Tuvan: кара-бажың (kara-bažyŋ)
• Ukrainian: в'язниця (uk) (v'jaznýcja) f 
• Urdu: كاراگار (ur) (kārāgār), بنديگھر (ur) (bandīghar), جیل (ur) (jēl), قيدخانہ (ur) (qaidxānā)
• Vietnamese: ngục (vi)
• Volapük: fanäböp (vo)
• Welsh: carchar (cy) m
• West Frisian: finzenis (fy)

confinement in a prison

• Czech: věznění (cs) n
• Danish: fængslet (da)
• Finnish: vankeus (fi), vankeusrangaistus (fi)
• French: prison (fr) f
• German: Haft (de) f, Gefangenschaft (de) f

• Greek: φυλάκιση (el) (filakisi) f , κάθειρξη (el) (kathirksi) f 
• Ido: karcero (io)
• Italian: prigione (it) f, carcere (it) m
• Norwegian: fengsel (no) n
• Volapük: fanäbam (vo)

Verb

prison (third-person singular simple present prisons, present participle prisoning, simple past and past participle prisoned)

1. (transitive) to imprison

Translations

imprison — see imprison

Anagrams

• porins
• prions
• spinor

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French

Etymology

From Old French prison, from Latin prehensio, prehensionem, from prehendō.

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

• IPA: /pʁi.zɔ̃/, X-SAMPA: /pRi.zO~/

Noun

prison f (plural prisons)

1. prison

Derived terms

• emprisonner
• prisonnier

Anagrams

• prions
• ripons

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Jèrriais

Etymology

From Old French prison, from Latin prehensiō, prehensiōnem (“seizing, apprehending, arresting, capturing”).

Noun

prison f (plural prisons)

1. prison

Related terms

• emprisonner, mettre en boête, mettre en prison (“to imprison”)

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Old French

Alterative forms

• prisoun (less common)
• prisun (less common)

Etymology

From Latin prehensiō, prehensiōnem, from prehendō.

Noun

prison f (oblique plural prisons, nominative singular prison, nominative plural prisons)

1. prison
   • circa 1200, author unknown, Aucassin et Nicolette

     Por vos sui en prison mis
     dans ce celier sousterin

     For you, I have been put in this prison
     in this underground cellar

Derived terms

• prisonnier

Descendants

• English: prison
• French: prison
• Jèrriais: prison