زنگ

See also: زنك and رنگ

Persian

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): [zanɡ]

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [zäŋɡ]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [zäŋɡ]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [zäŋɡ]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [zäŋɡ̥]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [zæɲɡʲ̥]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [zäŋɡ]

Readings
Classical reading?	zang
Dari reading?	zang
Iranian reading?	zang
Tajik reading?	zang

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)

1. 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).

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)

1. bell

   زنگِ درب ― zang-e darb ― doorbell

   زنگِ آژیر ― zang-e âžir ― alarm bell

2. (onomatopoeia) ring, buzz

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)

1. (archaic or historical) the “Land of the Blacks”; Sub-Saharan East Africa; Abyssinia (in the vague sense); Zanj
2. (archaic) Zanzibar

Derived terms

• زنگبار (zangebâr)
• زنگستان (zangestân)
• زنگی (zangi)

 

expressions

• 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)

Urdu

Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian زنگ (zang).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /zəŋɡ/

Noun

زَن٘گ • (zaṅg) m (Hindi spelling ज़ंग)

1. rust
2. a small bell
3. 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, 2024.