دنیا

See also: دنيا

Central Kurdish

Etymology

From Arabic دُنْيَا (dunyā).

Noun

دنیا (dinya)

1. world

   Synonym: جیھان (cîhan)

Laki

Etymology

From Arabic دُنْيَا (dunyā).

Noun

دنیا (dinya)

1. world

Old Anatolian Turkish

Etymology

Borrowed from Persian دنیا, from Arabic دُنْيَا (dunyā).

Noun

دُنْیَا (dünyā)

1. world, universe
2. realm, plane of existence

Descendants

• Azerbaijani: dünya
• Gagauz: dünnää
• Ottoman Turkish: دنیا (dünya), տիւնեա (dünya) — Armeno-Turkish
  • Turkish: dünya
  • → Crimean Tatar: dünya
  • → Abkhaz: адунеи (adunej)
  • → Albanian: dynja
  • → Armenian: դունյա (dunya)
  • → Bulgarian: дюня́ (djunjá), дуня́ (dunjá)
  • → Laz: დუნჲა (dunya)
  • → Macedonian: дуња (dunja)
  • → Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: ду̏ња

    Latin script: dȕnja

  • → Greek: ντουνιάς (ntouniás)

Further reading

• Boeschoten, Hendrik (2022) “dunya”, in A Dictionary of Early Middle Turkic (Handbook of Oriental Studies; I.169), Leiden and Boston: Brill, page 124

Ottoman Turkish

Alternative forms

• տիւնեա (dünya) — Armeno-Turkish

Etymology

Inherited from Old Anatolian Turkish دُنْیَا (dünyā), ultimately from Arabic دُنْيَا (dunyā).

Noun

دنیا • (dünyâ)

1. world
2. kingdom

Derived terms

• اسكی دنیا (Eski Dünyâ)
• یكی دنیا (Yeñi Dünyâ)

Descendants

• Turkish: dünya
• → Crimean Tatar: dünya
• → Abkhaz: адунеи (adunej)
• → Albanian: dynja
• → Armenian: դունյա (dunya)
• → Bulgarian: дюня́ (djunjá), дуня́ (dunjá)
• → Laz: დუნჲა (dunya)
• → Macedonian: дуња (dunja)
• → Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic script: ду̏ња

  Latin script: dȕnja

• → Greek: ντουνιάς (ntouniás)

References

• Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “dünya”, in Nişanyan Sözlük

Persian

Etymology

Etymology tree

Arabic دَنِيّ (daniyy)

Arabic أَدْنَى (ʔadnā)

Arabic دُنْيَا (dunyā)bor.

Persian دنیا

Borrowed from Arabic دُنْيَا (dunyā), from أَدْنَى (ʔadnā), from دَنِيّ (daniyy).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): [dun.jɑː]

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [d̪ʊɲ.jɑː], [d̪ʊ.ni.jɑː]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [d̪ʊɲ.jɑː], [d̪ʊ.ni.jɑː]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [d̪ʊɲ.jɑː], [d̪ʊ.ni.jɑː]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [d̪uɲ.jɔː], [d̪u.ni.jɔː]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [d̪oɲ.jɒː]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [d̪uɲ.jɔ]

Readings
Classical reading?	dunyā
Dari reading?	dunyā, duniyā
Iranian reading?	donyâ
Tajik reading?	dunyo

• Audio (Iran):

  (file)

Noun

Dari	دنیا
Iranian Persian
Tajik	дунё

دُنْیا • (donyâ)

1. world

   Synonym: جهان (jahân)

Derived terms

• دنیوی (donyavi)

Descendants

• Dari: دنیا (dunyā)
• Iranian Persian: دنیا (donyâ)
• Tajik: дунё (dunyo)
• → Adyghe: дунае (dunaje)
• → Bashkir: донъя (donya)
• → Bengali: দুনিয়া (duniẏa)
• → Central Kurdish: دنیا (dinya)
• → Chagatai:
  • Uyghur: دۇنيا (dunya)
  • Uzbek: dunyo
• → Dhivehi: ދުނިޔެ (duniye)
• → Dongxiang: duya, dunya
• → Georgian: დუნია (dunia)
• → Kazakh: дүние (dünie)
• → Kumyk: дюнья (dünʹya)
• → Kyrgyz: дүйнө (düynö)
• → Lishana Deni: דונייה (dunye)
• → Marathi: दुनिया (duniyā)
• → Nogai: дуныя (dunıya)
• → Old Anatolian Turkish: دُنْیَا (dünyā)
  • Azerbaijani: dünya
  • Gagauz: dünnää
  • Ottoman Turkish: دنیا (dünya) (see there for further descendants)
• → Old Gujarati:
  • Gujarati: દુનિયા (duniyā)
  • Marwari: दुनियांण (duniyā̃ṇ)
• → Old Hindi:

  Hindi: दुनिया (duniyā)

  • • Fiji Hindi: dunia

  Urdu: دُنْیا (dunyā), دُنِیا (duniyā)

• → Nepali: दुनिया (duniyā)
• → Pashto: دنيا (dunyā)
• → Punjabi:

  Gurmukhi script: ਦੁਨੀਆ (dunīā)

  Shahmukhi script: دنیا (dunīā)

• → Siberian Tatar: тонйа (tonya)
• → Tatar: дөнья (dön’ya)
• → Tausug: dunya
• → Turkmen: dünýä

Punjabi

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic دُنْيَا (dunyā). First attested as Old Punjabi دُنی (dunī).

Noun

دُنیا • (dunīā) f (Gurmukhi spelling ਦੁਨੀਆ)

1. world

Urdu

Etymology

Etymology tree

Arabic دَنِيّ (daniyy)

Arabic أَدْنَى (ʔadnā)

Arabic دُنْيَا (dunyā)bor.

Classical Persian دُنْیَا (dunyā)bor.

Urdu دنیا (dnyā)

Borrowed from Classical Persian دُنْیَا (dunyā), borrowed from Arabic دُنْيَا (dunyā), from أَدْنَى (ʔadnā), from دَنِيّ (daniyy). First attested in c. 1435 as Middle Hindi دنیا (dnya).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /d̪ʊn.jɑː/, /d̪ʊ.nɪ.jɑː/

• Audio (Pakistan):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː
• Hyphenation: دُن‧یا

Noun

دُنْیا • (dunyā) f (Hindi spelling दुनिया)

1. world
2. (by extension) universe
3. (by extension) Earth
4. existence, current life (as opposed to the hereafter)
5. society, all people, everyone (in this world)
6. (by extension) worldliness (as opposed to spiritual matters)
7. kingdom
8. pleasures of life, enjoyment

Declension

Declension of دنیا

	singular	plural
direct	دُنْیا (dunyā)	دُنْیائیں (dunyāẽ)
oblique	دُنْیا (dunyā)	دُنْیاؤں (dunyāõ)
vocative	دُنْیا (dunyā)	دُنْیاؤ (dunyāo)

Further reading

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