Tajikistan
/tɑːˌdʒiːkɪˈstɑːn/noun
A landlocked country in Central Asia; its people are called Tajiks.
Did you know?The suffix -stan comes from Persian, meaning “place” or “land,” the same ancient word-family behind many Central Asian country names.
Etymological Timeline
Ancient Persian
Persian
-stān
“place, land, region”
Medieval Persian
Persian
tājīk
“Tajik; a Persian-speaking people of Central Asia”
19th–20th Century
Russian/European
Tadzhikistan
“A transliterated form used in Russian and European sources for the Tajik homeland”
20th Century
English
Tajikistan
“The modern English name of the Central Asian republic”
Modern English
English
Tajik
“A member of a Persian-speaking ethnic group in Central Asia”