dungeon

English

Etymology

From Middle English dongeoun, dongoun (“keep, dungeon, abyss”), from Old French donjon (“castle keep”), from Medieval Latin dungiō, from either Vulgar Latin *dominiō (from Latin dominium (“lordship; ownership”)) or Frankish *dungijā (“prison, dungeon, underground cellar”). The current sense may have been influenced by Middle English dung, dunge, dong, donge (“abyss”) or its etymon Old English dung (“a subterranean chamber; a prison; dungeon”).

The Frankish word derives from Proto-Germanic *dungijǭ (“an enclosed space; a vault; bower; treasury”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰengʰ- (“to cover”), and is related to the aforementioned Old English dung, Old Saxon dung (“underground cellar”), Middle Dutch donc (“underground basement”), Old High German tung (“underground cellar; an underground chamber or apartment for overwintering”) (whence German Tunk (“manure or soil covered basement, underground weaving workshop”)), Old Norse dyngja (“a detached apartment, a lady's bower”); whence Icelandic dyngja (“chamber”)). See also dung, dingle.

The game term has been popularized by Dungeons & Dragons.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈdʌn.d͡ʒən/
Audio (UK) (file)

Noun

dungeon (plural dungeons)

An underground prison or vault, typically built underneath a castle.
- 1911, Thomas Babington Macaulay, “Bunyan, John”, in 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica:
  Year after year he lay patiently in a dungeon.
(obsolete) The main tower of a motte or castle; a keep or donjon.
(obsolete) A shrewd person.
(games) An area inhabited by enemies, containing story objectives, treasure and bosses.
(BDSM) A room dedicated to sadomasochistic sexual activity.

Hyponyms

oubliette

Derived terms

dungeonable
dungeon crawl
dungeon crawler
dungeon master
dungeon mastering
dungeon-mastering
dungeon monitor
instance dungeon
multi-user dungeon
sex dungeon

Translations

underground prison or vault

Albanian: dhomë e nëndheshmë f
Arabic: زِنْزَانَة‎ f (zinzāna)
Armenian: զնդան (hy) (zndan)
Bulgarian: тъмница (bg) f (tǎmnica)
Catalan: calabós m, tàvega f, masmorra (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 地牢 (zh) (dìláo)
Danish: fangekælder
Dutch: kerker (nl) m
Esperanto: (prison): karcero, ublieto, forgesejo, forgeskelo
Finnish: vankityrmä (fi), tyrmä (fi)
French: oubliette (fr) f
Galician: cabozo m, baño (gl) m, cárcere m
Georgian: დილეგი (dilegi)
German: Verlies (de) n, Kerker (de) m
Greek: μπουντρούμι (el) n (bountroúmi)
Ancient: γόργυρα f (górgura)
Hebrew: צִינוֹק‎ (he) m (tzinóq)
Hindi: कारागार (hi) m (kārāgār), अंधकुप (hi) m (andhkup), क़ैदख़ाना m (qaidxānā), कैदखाना (hi) m (kaidkhānā), बन्दीघर (hi) f (bandīghar), जेल (hi) m (jel), भूगृह (hi) m (bhūgŕh), तहखाना (hi) m (tahkhānā)
Hungarian: kazamata (hu), földalatti börtön, tömlöc (hu)
Icelandic: dýflissa (is) f
Ido: karcero (io)
Irish: doinsiún m
Italian: prigione sotterranea f, segreta (it) f
Japanese: 地下牢 (ちかろう, chikarō)
Korean: 던전 (deonjeon)
Latin: carcer m, robur (la) n
Laz: დილეღი (dileği)
Macedonian: зандана f (zandana)
Maori: poka herehere
Middle English: dongeoun
Mingrelian: დილეკი (dileḳi)
Norwegian: fangekjeller m, fangehull n
Old English: dung f, dimhūs n
Persian: سیاهچال‎ (siyâhčâl), گریچه‎ (goriče)
Polish: loch (pl) m, ciemnica (pl) f
Portuguese: masmorra (pt) f, calabouço (pt) m
Russian: темни́ца (ru) f (temníca), склеп (ru) m (sklep), подземе́лье (ru) n (podzemélʹje)
Serbo-Croatian: донжон кула m
Spanish: mazmorra (es) f, calabozo m
Svan: დჷლიგ (dəlig)
Swedish: fängelsehåla (sv) c
Tagalog: bartolina
Turkish: zindan (tr)
Ukrainian: темни́ця f (temnýcja)
Vietnamese: tầng hâm
Walloon: roveyrece (wa) f

the main tower of a motte or castle; a keep or donjon

Catalan: torre mestra f, torre de l'homenatge f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 城堡主樓／城堡主楼 (chéngbǎo zhǔlóu), 樓櫓／楼橹 (zh) (lóulǔ)
Esperanto: loĝejturo
Finnish: keskustorni
French: donjon (fr) m, cachot (fr) m
Galician: crochel m
German: Donjon (de) m
Hungarian: vártorony (hu)
Italian: torrione (it) m
Middle English: dongeoun
Polish: donżon (pl) m
Portuguese: torre de menagem (pt) f
Russian: гла́вная ба́шня f (glávnaja bášnja), донжо́н (ru) m (donžón)
Spanish: mazmorra (es) f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Marathi: ^{(please verify)} अंधारकोठी (andhārkoṭhī)
Telugu: ^{(please verify)} చీకటి గది (cīkaṭi gadi), ^{(please verify)} భూగృహము (te) (bhūgr̥hamu)

Verb

dungeon (third-person singular simple present dungeons, present participle dungeoning, simple past and past participle dungeoned)

(transitive) To imprison in a dungeon.
- 1830, William Cobbett, History of the Regency and Reign of King George the Fourth:
  Of every act of severity, of every bold violation of the constitution, of every bill for dungeoning and gagging the people, of every tax, of every loan, of all that set frugality at defiance, and that mocked at mercy, these men had been either the authors or the most strenuous supporters […]

Middle English

Noun

dungeon

Alternative form of dongeoun