Word.ws English Dictionary

-estan

-estan is the alternative form of -stan.

Meaning of -stan

Suffix

-stan (proper noun-forming suffix)

  1. Used in the names of regions in the Middle East and Central Asia which were historically influenced by Persian and Turkic cultures.
  2. (humorous, often) Used to form fictitious or metaphoric country names, often with a connotation of it being an exotic or hostile country.
    • absurd + -istan → Absurdistan
  3. (derogatory, ethnic, slur) Used after European and American place names to emphasize that many Middle Easterners or Muslims reside there.
    • London + -istan → Londonistan

Questions about -estan

What is -estan the alternative form of?
-estan is the alternative form of -stan.

Words near -estan in the dictionary

  1. -esque
  2. -ess
  3. -esse
  4. -esses
  5. -est
  6. -estan
  7. -esthesia
  8. -esthesis
  9. -estr-
  10. -esy
  11. -et

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: -estan (page history and authors); -stan (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “-estan.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/-estan. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.