Word.ws English Dictionary

-istan

-istan 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 -istan

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

Words near -istan in the dictionary

  1. -ism
  2. -isms
  3. -ismus
  4. -ist
  5. -ista
  6. -istan
  7. -istic
  8. -istical
  9. -istically
  10. -istics
  11. -ists

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: -istan (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.

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