مزدور

Persian

FWOTD – 7 March 2024

Etymology

Inherited from Middle Persian [script needed] (myzdwbl /⁠mizdwar⁠/, “hireling, hired laborer”), from [script needed] (mzd /⁠mizd⁠/, “reward, hire”), whence modern مزد (mozd).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): [muz.ˈduːɾ]

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [mʊz.d̪úːɾ]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [mʊz.d̪úːɾ]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [mʊz.d̪úːɾ]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [muz.d̪úɾ]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [moz.d̪úːɹ]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [muz.d̪úɾ]

Readings
Classical reading?	muzdūr
Dari reading?	muzdūr
Iranian reading?	mozdur
Tajik reading?	muzdur

Noun

مزدور • (mozdur)

1. mercenary
2. hired laborer, hireling
   • c. 1011, Abu'l-Qāsim Firdawsī, “The reign of Yazdgird”, in شاهنامه [Book of Kings]‎^[1]:

     نشسته نظاره من از دورشان
     تو گفتی بدم پیش مزدورشان

     nišasta nazāra man az dūr-išān
     tu guftī budam pēš muzdūr-išān

     I sat, looking at them from afar:
     You would have said I was a hireling before them.

     (Classical Persian romanization)

Descendants

• → Azerbaijani: muzdur

Further reading

• Hayyim, Sulayman (1934) “مزدور”, in New Persian–English dictionary, Teheran: Librairie-imprimerie Béroukhim
• Dehkhoda, Ali-Akbar (1931–) “مزدور”, in Dehkhoda Dictionary Institute, editors, Dehkhoda Dictionary (in Persian), Tehran: University of Tehran Press

Urdu

Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian مزدور (muzdūr, “mercenary; labourer”).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /mʊz.d̪uːɾ/
• (common) IPA^(key): [məz.d̪uːɾ]
• Rhymes: -uːɾ
• Hyphenation: مُز‧دُور

Noun

مُزْدُور • (muzdūr) m (Hindi spelling मज़दूर)

1. labourer, worker
2. porter, carrier, coolly

Declension

Declension of مزدور
	singular	plural
direct	مُزْدُور (muzdūr)	مُزْدُور (muzdūr)
oblique	مُزْدُور (muzdūr)	مُزْدُوروں (muzdūrõ)
vocative	مُزْدُور (muzdūr)	مُزْدُورو (muzdūro)

Derived terms

• مَزْدُوری (mazdūrī, “labour”)

Further reading

• “مزدور”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.
• “مزدور”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2025.
• Qureshi, Bashir Ahmad (1971) “مزدور”, in Kitabistan's 20th Century Standard Dictionary‎, Lahore: Kitabistan Pub. Co.