تفنگ

Alternative forms

• تفک (tofak)

Etymology

Borrowed most likely from Chagatai or Khorezmian Turkic and borrowed at least semantically also from Ottoman Turkish تفنك (tüfenk), cognate to Karakhanid [script needed] (tüwek) in the Dīwān Luḡāt at-Turk meaning a blowpipe propelling pebbles to kill birds, so called by onomatopoeia mimicking the sound made when it is puffed: Tüf! See Azerbaijani tüfəng for cognates. The terminus ante quem the tüfenk in the meaning of a matchlock-gun has resounded in Persian lands is the end of the Battle of Çaldıran where the Safavids incurred resounding defeat because of the Ottoman use of – then expensive – firearms to devastate the Persians as resolutely as never before because of the new Shia threat.

Pronunciation

Noun

تفنگ • (tofang) (plural تفنگ‌ها (tofang-hâ))

1. musket
2. firearm, gun

   Synonym: اسلحه گرم (aslahe garm)

References

• Vullers, Johann August (1855) “تفنگ”, in Lexicon Persico-Latinum etymologicum cum linguis maxime cognatis Sanscrita et Zendica et Pehlevica comparatum, e lexicis persice scriptis Borhâni Qâtiu, Haft Qulzum et Bahâri agam et persico-turcico Farhangi-Shuûrî confectum, adhibitis etiam Castelli, Meninski, Richardson et aliorum operibus et auctoritate scriptorum Persicorum adauctum‎ (in Latin), volume I, Gießen: J. Ricker, page 451a

Alternative forms

• توپَک (topak), تُوپَک (tūpak), تُپَک (tupak), تُفَک (tufak)

Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian تفنگ (tufang), perhaps from Khorezmian Turkic, but more likely via Chagatai through the Mughal Empire whose rulers were initially Chagatai-speaking, and established one of the three "gunpowder empires" alongside the Ottoman Empire and Safavid Iran. The word is itself derived as an onomatopoeia mimicking the sound of blowpipes used to kill birds.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /t̪ʊ.fəŋɡ/
• Rhymes: -əŋɡ

Noun

تفنگ • (tufaṅg) f (Hindi spelling तुफ़ंग)

1. gun, rifle, firearm
2. (historical) musket, matchlock
3. (outdated, rare) blowpipe

References

• Fallon, Platts, Qureshi, Shakespear (2024) “تفنگ”, in Digital Dictionaries of South Asia [Combined Urdu Dictionaries]