کلان

Persian

Alternative forms

• کلون (kalun) (dialectal, Herati)

Etymology

Borrowed from Parthian 𐫐𐫓𐫀𐫗 (klʾn /⁠kalān⁠/, “great, big; pure”). Related to Central Kurdish کەڵان (kellan, “big, great, giant”), کەڵە (kelle, “stud; male; male farm animal”) (as in کەڵەشێر (kelleşêr, “rooster”), کەڵەگا (kellega, “stud”)), Tat kələ (“great, big”) and the Armenian toponym Կաղանկատոյք (Kałankatoykʻ, literally “big habitation”). The ultimate origin is uncertain.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): [ka.ˈlɑːn]

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [kʰä.lɑ́ːn]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [kʰä.lɑ́ːn]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [kʰä.lɑ́ːn]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [kʰä.lɔ́ːn]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [kʰʲæ.lɒ́ːn]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [kʰä.lɔ́n]

Readings
Classical reading?	kalān
Dari reading?	kalān
Iranian reading?	kalân
Tajik reading?	kalon

Adjective

Dari	کلان
Iranian Persian	بُزُرگ
Tajik	калон

کلان • (kalân) (comparative کلان‌تَر (kalân-tar), superlative کلان‌تَرین (kalân-tarin)) (chiefly Dari)

1. big, huge, massive

   از خرد تا کلان (Dari)

   az xurd tā kalān

   the details, the exacts, everything

   (literally, “from small to big”)

   از خرد تا کلانش رو بهم توضیح داد (Iranian Persian)

   az xord tâ kalâneš ro behem towzih dâd

   they explained all the details to me

2. elder, older

Derived terms

• مادر کلان (mâdar-i kalân) (Dari)
• پدر کلان (padar-i kalân) (Dari)
• کلان شدن (kalân šodan, “to grow up”)
• کلانتر (kalântar, “sheriff”)
• کلان‌شهر (kalân-šahr, “metropolis”)

Descendants

• → Azerbaijani: kalan
• → Urdu: کلاں (kalā̃)

References

• Durkin-Meisterernst, Desmond (2004) “klʾn”, in A Dictionary of Manichaean Middle Persian and Parthian (Corpus Fontium Manichaeorum; 3.1), Turnhout: Brepols, page 205b
• Edelʹman, D. I. (2011) Etimologičeskij slovarʹ iranskix jazykov [Etymological Dictionary of Iranian Languages] (in Russian), volume IV, Moscow: Vostochnaya Literatura, page 349
• Oranskij, I. M. (1970) “K imeni baktrijskovo (?) voždja ΚΑΤΆΝΗΣ (IV v. do n. e.) [To the name of the Bactrian (?) chieftain ΚΑΤΆΝΗΣ (IV cent. B. C.)]”, in Palestinskij sbornik‎ (in Russian), volume 21 (84), pages 155–160
• کَلاں [کَلاں] (فارسی), quotee (2006) “کلاں”, in اردو لغت‎