Meanings
plural durwans
- IndiaA live-in doorkeeper, especially in an apartment building.
Old Mattu, the Hindu durwan who looked after the European church, was standing in the sunlight below the veranda.
1934, George Orwell, chapter 3, in Burmese Days1 more example
Outside my retreat, our house was full of relatives and other people. […] Mukundalal the durwan is outside rolling on the ground with the one-eyed wrestler, trying out a new wrestling fall.
1940, Rabindranath Tagore, “My Boyhood Days”, in Amiya Chakravarty, editor, A Tagore Reader, Boston: Beacon Press, published 1966, page 94
Origin
- Classical Persianدروان
- Hindustani
- Englishdurwan
From Hindustani دروان (drvān) / दरवान (darvān), from Classical Persian دروان (darwān), from دربان (darbān, “doorkeeper”), from در (dar, “door”) + ـبان (-bān, “keeper, guardian”).
More words from Hindustani, Classical Persian
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
durwan. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/durwan
“durwan.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/durwan. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “durwan,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/durwan.
Source: durwan on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.