خاتون

From Classical Persian خاتون (xātūn, “lady, noblewoman”).

خَاتُون • (ḵātūn) f (plural خَوَاتِين (ḵawātīn))

1. khatun, noblewoman

Borrowed from Persian خاتون (xâtun). Doublet of قادین (kadın).

خاتون • (hatun)

1. lady, dame
2. woman

• Turkish: hatun
• → Georgian: ხათუნა (xatuna)

• Redhouse, James W. (1890) “خاتون”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎^[1], Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 818b
• Kélékian, Diran (1911) “خاتون”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎^[2], Constantinople: Mihran, page 525a

Most likely directly from Sogdian 𐼶𐼴𐽂𐼰𐼷𐼻𐼳 (γwtʾynh /⁠xwatēn, xutēn⁠/, “queen”), or perhaps entered Persian via Manichaean Middle Persian 𐫑𐫀𐫎𐫇𐫗 (xʾṯwn /⁠xātūn⁠/, “lady, a Sogdian female title”). Ultimately from Proto-Iranian *hwatā́wniH, a feminine form of Proto-Iranian *hwatā́wā. Related to خدا (xodâ), which was inherited, and to خدیو (xadiv), which was borrowed from Bactrian χοαδηο (xoadēo, “lord”).

Compare Old Turkic 𐰴𐱃𐰆𐰣 (qatun, “queen”), Common Turkic *xātun, Turkish kadın (“woman”) Turkish hatun (“lady, wife”), Karakhanid قاتُونْ (qātūn, “noble woman”), Iranian borrowings.

Readings
Classical reading?	xātūn
Dari reading?	xātūn
Iranian reading?	xâtun
Tajik reading?	xotun

Dari	خاتون
Iranian Persian
Tajik	хотун

خاتون • (xâtun)

1. lady, matron
2. noblewoman

• → Arabic: خاتون (ḵātūn)
• → Azerbaijani: xatın
• → Bengali: খাতুন (khatun)
• → Gujarati: ખાતૂન (khātūn)
• → Gulf Arabic: خاتون (ḵātūn, “female nurse”)
• → Middle Armenian: խաթուն (xatʻun)
  • Armenian: խաթուն (xatʻun)
• → Ottoman Turkish: خاتون (hātun)
  • Turkish: hatun
  • → Georgian: ხათუნა (xatuna)
• → Urdu: خاتون (xātūn)

• Steingass, Francis Joseph (1892) “خاتون”, in A Comprehensive Persian–English dictionary, London: Routledge & K. Paul

Borrowed from Classical Persian خاتون (xātūn, “lady; noblewoman”).

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /xɑː.t̪uːn/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːn
• Hyphenation: خا‧تون

خاتُون • (xātūn) f (formal plural خَواتِین (xavātīn), Hindi spelling ख़ातून)

1. lady

   خَواتِین و حَضْرات ― xavātīn o hazrāt ― Ladies and gentlemen

2. first lady; khatun
3. noblewoman

• “خاتون”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.
• Qureshi, Bashir Ahmad (1971) “خاتون”, in Kitabistan's 20th Century Standard Dictionary‎, Lahore: Kitabistan Pub. Co.
• Platts, John T. (1884) “خاتون”, in A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English, London: W. H. Allen & Co.
• “خاتون”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2024.