Word.ws English Dictionary

kurgan

/kʊəˈɡɑːn/

kurgan noun: a prehistoric burial mound once used by peoples in Siberia and Central Asia.

kurgan: a prehistoric burial mound once used by peoples in Siberia and Central Asia
Image: Дар Ветер, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

kurgan (plural kurgans)

  1. A prehistoric burial mound once used by peoples in Siberia and Central Asia.
    • The kurgans and the burials they contain are consistent with the early IE burial practices outlined above, and the late Lithuanian archaeologist Marija Gimbutas proposed that the kurgan peoples were in fact early Indo-Europeans.2004, Benjamin Fortson, Indo-European Language and Culture, Blackwell, published 2005, page 41
    • A broad scatter of kurgan graves in the steppes contained imported Tripolye C2 pots (among other imported pot types) and a few, like Serezlievka, also contained Tripolye-like schematic rod-headed figurines.2007, David W. Anthony, The Horse, the Wheel, and Language, Princeton: Princeton University Press, page 498
    Synonyms:
    burial mound § Synonyms

Proper noun capitalized: Kurgan

Kurgan

  1. An oblast of Russia in Siberia.
  2. A city, the administrative center of Kurgan Oblast, Russia. Originally called Tsaryovo Gorodishche (Russian Царёво Городи́ще n (Carjóvo Gorodíšče)) (1662-1782).

kurgan meaning in Persian

kurgan in Persian

prehistoric burial mound
کورگان kurgân, قرغان qorġân

Synonyms of kurgan

  • burial mound § Synonyms

Forms of kurgan

pluralkurgans
alternative formkurhan

Origin of kurgan

From Russian курга́н (kurgán), from a Turkic language.

From Russian Курга́н (Kurgán), from Russian курга́н (kurgán, “kurgan, burial mound”), from Turkic (compare Turkish kurgan (“fortress”)).

Words that rhyme with kurgan

34 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about kurgan

What does kurgan mean?
Kurgan means a prehistoric burial mound once used by peoples in Siberia and Central Asia.
What is kurgan in Persian?
Kurgan in Persian is کورگان (kurgân), قرغان (qorġân). See Kurgan meaning in Persian.
What part of speech is kurgan?
Kurgan can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce kurgan?
Kurgan is pronounced /kʊəˈɡɑːn/.
What is the plural of kurgan?
The plural of kurgan is kurgans.

Words near kurgan in the dictionary

  1. Kuresa
  2. Kuresas
  3. Kuressaare
  4. kurfuffle
  5. kurfuffles
  6. kurgan
  7. kurgans
  8. kurgantaite
  9. kuri
  10. Kuria
  11. Kuria Muria

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: kurgan (page history and authors); Kurgan (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:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-kurgan.wav.

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