زبان

See also: زَبان

Baluchi

Noun

زبان • (zabán)

1. tongue
2. 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^(key): [za.ˈβɑːn]

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [zä.bɑ́ːn], [zʊ.bɑ́ːn]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [zä.bɑ́ːn], [zʊ.bɑ́ːn]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [zä.bɑ́ːn], [zʊ.bɑ́ːn]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [zä.bɔ́ːn], [zu.bɔ́ːn]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [zæ.bɒ́ːn]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [zä.bɔ́n]

Readings
Classical reading?	zaḇān
Dari reading?	zabān, zubān
Iranian reading?	zabân
Tajik reading?	zabon

• (Hamadan) IPA^(key): [zeˈbɒːn]

• Audio (Iran):

  (file)

Noun

Dari	زبان
Iranian Persian
Tajik	забон

زبان • (zabân, zobân) (plural زبان‌ها (zabân-hâ))

1. 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 او

     bar zabān nām-i haqq u dar jān-i ō
     gand-hā az fikr-i bē-īmān-i ō

     On 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 دور

     mabād az dahan-i man damē zabān-i tō dūr
     ki az labam našawad zarra-yi dahān-i tō dūr

     May 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)

2. 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 بیگَانَگَان

     ay basā hindū u turk-i ham zabān
     ay basā dū turk čōn bēgānagān

     Oh, 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^(key): [zʊbɑnə]

Noun

زُبانَ • (zubāna) f (Devanagari ज़ुबान)

1. (anatomy) tongue
2. 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

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

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /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)

1. (anatomy) tongue

   Synonyms: جِیبھ (jībh), لِسان (lisān)

2. language, vernacular

   Synonyms: لِسان (lisān), بولِی (bolī), بھاکھا (bhākhā), بھاشا (bhāśā)

3. (by extension) the manner of speaking
4. word (i.e. a promise)
5. 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.

Declension

Declension of زبان

	singular	plural
direct	زُبان (zubān)	زُبانیں (zubānẽ)
oblique	زُبان (zubān)	زُبانوں (zubānõ)
vocative	زُبان (zubān)	زُبانو (zubāno)

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

Further reading

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

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)

1. bum, fundament, abdomen
2. loins, hips

References

• Landberg, Carlo, editor (1942), Glossaire daṯînois‎^[1] (in French), Leiden: Brill, page 1821
• Piamenta, Moshe (1991) Dictionary of Post-Classical Yemeni Arabic, Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 196b