dungeon

English

Etymology

From Middle English dongeoun (“keep of a castle; dungeon; abyss, cave, den; whirlpool”), from Anglo-Norman donjun (“keep of a castle; keep used as a prison; dungeon”) and continental Old French donjon (“keep of a castle”), from Vulgar Latin *dominiōnem, seemingly derived from Latin dominus (“master, lord”) perhaps via some figurative sense like “dominant building”. Doublet of donjon. The sense of “prison (associated with a castle)”, first attested in Anglo-Norman (13th c.) and apparently never in continental Old French, likely developed in combination with Old English dung (“underground prison cell”), whence Middle English donge (“pit, abyss” - senses that are also attested for Middle English dongeoun).

The game term has been popularized by Dungeons & Dragons.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdʌn.d͡ʒən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

dungeon (plural dungeons)

1. An underground prison or vault, typically built underneath a castle.
   • 1911, Thomas Babington Macaulay, “Bunyan, John”, in 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica‎^[1]:

     Year after year he lay patiently in a dungeon.

2. The low area between two drumlins.
3. (obsolete) The main tower of a motte or castle; a keep or donjon.
4. (obsolete) A shrewd person.
5. (roleplaying games) An area inhabited by enemies, containing story objectives, treasure, and bosses.
6. (BDSM) A room dedicated to sadomasochistic sexual activity.

Hyponyms

• oubliette

Derived terms

• dungeonable
• dungeon crawl
• dungeon crawler
• dungeoneer
• dungeoner
• dungeonesque
• dungeonish
• dungeonlike
• dungeon master
• dungeon mastering
• dungeon-mastering
• dungeon monitor
• dungeonous
• dungeon synth
• dungeony
• endungeon
• indungeon
• multi-user dungeon
• sex dungeon

 

Translations

underground prison or vault

• Albanian: dhomë e nëndheshmë f
• Arabic: زِنْزَانَة f (zinzāna)
• Armenian: զնդան (hy) (zndan)
• Bulgarian: тъмница (bg) f (tǎmnica)
• Catalan: calabós m, tàvega f, masmorra (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 地牢 (zh) (dìláo)

• Danish: fangekælder
• Dutch: kerker (nl) m
• Esperanto: (prison): karcero, ublieto, forgesejo, forgeskelo
• Finnish: vankityrmä (fi), tyrmä (fi)
• French: oubliette (fr) f
• Galician: cábozo m, baño (gl) m, cárcere (gl) m
• Georgian: დილეგი (dilegi)
• German: Verlies (de) n, Kerker (de) m
• Greek: μπουντρούμι (el) n (bountroúmi)

  Ancient: γόργυρα f (górgura)

• Hebrew: צִינוֹק (he) m (tzinóq)
• Hindi: काल कोठरी m (kāl koṭhrī), भाकसी (hi) m (bhāksī), कारागार (hi) m (kārāgār), अंधकुप (hi) m (andhkup), क़ैदख़ाना m (qaidxānā), कैदखाना (hi) m (kaidkhānā), बन्दीघर (hi) f (bandīghar), भूगृह (hi) m (bhūgŕh), तहखाना (hi) m (tahkhānā)
• Hungarian: kazamata (hu), földalatti börtön, tömlöc (hu)
• Icelandic: dýflissa (is) f
• Ido: karcero (io)
• Irish: doinsiún m
• Italian: prigione sotterranea f, segreta (it) f
• Japanese: 地下牢 (ちかろう, chikarō)
• Korean: 던전 (deonjeon)
• Latin: carcer m, robur (la) n
• Laz: დილეღი (dileği)
• Macedonian: зандана f (zandana)
• Maori: poka herehere
• Middle English: dongeoun
• Mingrelian: დილეკი (dileḳi)
• Norwegian: fangekjeller m, fangehull n
• Old English: dung f, dimhūs n
• Persian: سیاه‌چال (siyâhčâl), گریچه (goriče)
• Polish: loch (pl) m, ciemnica (pl) f
• Portuguese: masmorra (pt) f, calabouço (pt) m, calaboiço m
• Russian: темни́ца (ru) f (temníca), склеп (ru) m (sklep), подземе́лье (ru) n (podzemélʹje)
• Serbo-Croatian: донжон кула m
• Slovene: ječa f
• Spanish: mazmorra (es) f, calabozo (es) m
• Svan: დჷლიგ (dəlig)
• Swedish: fängelsehåla (sv) c
• Tagalog: bartolina
• Turkish: zindan (tr)
• Ukrainian: темни́ця f (temnýcja), підземе́лля n (pidzeméllja)
• Vietnamese: tầng hâm
• Walloon: roveyrece (wa) f
• Welsh: daeardy m

the main tower of a motte or castle; a keep or donjon

• Catalan: torre mestra f, torre de l'homenatge f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 城堡主樓 / 城堡主楼 (chéngbǎo zhǔlóu), 樓櫓 / 楼橹 (zh) (lóulǔ)

• Esperanto: loĝejturo
• Finnish: keskustorni
• French: donjon (fr) m, cachot (fr) m
• Galician: crochel m
• German: Donjon (de) m
• Hungarian: vártorony (hu)
• Italian: torrione (it) m
• Middle English: dongeoun
• Polish: donżon (pl) m
• Portuguese: torre de menagem (pt) f
• Russian: гла́вная ба́шня f (glávnaja bášnja), донжо́н (ru) m (donžón)
• Spanish: mazmorra (es) f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Marathi: ^{(please verify)} अंधारकोठी (andhārkoṭhī)
• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} చీకటి గది (cīkaṭi gadi), ^{(please verify)} భూగృహము (te) (bhūgr̥hamu)
• Welsh: daeardy m

Verb

dungeon (third-person singular simple present dungeons, present participle dungeoning, simple past and past participle dungeoned)

1. (transitive) To imprison in a dungeon.
   • 1830, William Cobbett, History of the Regency and Reign of King George the Fourth:

     Of every act of severity, of every bold violation of the constitution, of every bill for dungeoning and gagging the people, of every tax, of every loan, of all that set frugality at defiance, and that mocked at mercy, these men had been either the authors or the most strenuous supporters […]

Middle English

Noun

dungeon

1. Alternative form of dongeoun