<p>On a Chinese site called 知乎, there are many discussions on this problem.
Like <a href="https://www.zhihu.com/question/20367818" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.zhihu.com/question/20367818</a>, <a href="https://www.zhihu.com/question/305881042" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.zhihu.com/question/305881042</a>.</p>
<p>A summary is that the translation time of &quot;阿富汗&quot; and that of other &quot;斯坦&quot; are not the same. They follow different translation rules.</p>
<p>&quot;斯坦&quot; is just the sound translation of &quot;-stan&quot;, which means &quot;the place of&quot;.
When translating &quot;阿富汗&quot;, “斯坦” is missing because the people who translated the name think that it is not necessary to translate it. You will find that the names of countries that were translated very early are all very short.</p>
<p>Other &quot;斯坦&quot; appears later in the 20th century. At that time, the translation is just following the sound so there is &quot;斯坦&quot;.</p>
<p>There are other explanations and details in the discussions. You can visit the above website for further information.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-04-29T09:26:01.217Z
2022-04-29T12:43:25.127Z
2022-04-29T12:43:25.127Z
wznmickey
<p>From my point of view, it's mainly because of 2 reasons:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>哈萨克族, 乌兹别克族 and 吉尔吉斯族（usually written as 柯尔克孜族）are included into the 56 official ethnic groups and there are still large groups of people from those origins living in China. So the official need to put &quot;-斯坦&quot; behind those names when referring to the nation itself. But there are no 阿富汗族 somehow in China so it won't be ambiguous when using &quot;阿富汗&quot;</p>
</li>
<li><p>哈萨克, 乌兹别克，吉尔吉斯 and 土库曼 used to be constituent republics of the CCCP(Soviet Union) and was not independent until 1991. But 阿富汗 has always been as an independent nation for years so the translation rules might be different.</p>
</li>
</ol>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-04-29T06:46:57.680Z
2022-04-29T06:46:57.680Z
Celia D
<p>The name 阿富汗 is derived from a very similar name &quot;愛烏罕&quot;, which exists in Chinese documentation as early as 1759.</p>
<p>Part of north Afghan, called &quot;巴达克山（بد خشان）&quot; was a subject of early Qing dynasty. The country was later conquered by 愛烏罕 (Afghan's Durrani Empire). Those events are documented by the court of Qing.</p>
<p>See the history of Qing (<a href="http://www.guoxue.com/shibu/24shi/qingshigao/qsgx_529.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">清史稿</a>) for reference.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-04-29T14:09:35.937Z
2022-04-29T14:09:35.937Z
High GPA
<p>阿富汗 (Afghan) is the shortened (and preferred) version of 阿富汗斯坦 (Afghanistan) which is the full transliteration, <strong>but no one is using it</strong> because Afghanistan was transliterated a long time ago before, 斯坦 was commonly used in the newly formed nations in modern time</p>
<p>We also commonly use 哈萨克, 土库曼, and  乌兹别克 instead of the full transliterations</p>
<p>斯坦-stan just means nation, it can be omitted in Chinese transliteration</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-04-29T05:24:21.457Z
But I don't think I've ever seen 阿富汗斯坦 used anywhere. This article for instance uses both , "阿富汗" and "土库曼斯坦"
  [1]: https://world.huanqiu.com/article/47PaQwoICPo
WinMacLinUser
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-04-29T03:17:06.400Z
2022-04-29T16:11:36.867Z
2022-04-29T16:11:36.867Z
Tang Ho
<p>I know Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan respectively are 阿富汗，哈萨克斯坦，吉尔吉斯斯坦，土库曼斯坦，乌兹别克斯坦. But why isn't Afghanistan translated as 阿富汗斯坦 with the 斯坦 suffix for &quot;-stan&quot; like the others?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-04-29T06:20:08.057Z
When the Central Asian countries were a part of the USSR, their names didn't have the -stan suffix. 哈萨克斯坦，吉尔吉斯斯坦，土库曼斯坦，乌兹别克斯坦，塔吉克斯坦 are new translations after their independence. On the other hand, 阿富汗 is an old translations since late Qing dynasty.
alephalpha
<place-names>
Why is there no 斯坦 suffix in 阿富汗?
# Why is there no 斯坦 suffix in 阿富汗?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-04-29)

I know Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan respectively are 阿富汗，哈萨克斯坦，吉尔吉斯斯坦，土库曼斯坦，乌兹别克斯坦. But why isn't Afghanistan translated as 阿富汗斯坦 with the 斯坦 suffix for "-stan" like the others?

**Tags:** place-names
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: When the Central Asian countries were a part of the USSR, their names didn't have the -stan suffix. 哈萨克斯坦，吉尔吉斯斯坦，土库曼斯坦，乌兹别克斯坦，塔吉克斯坦 are new translations after their independence. On the other hand, 阿富汗 is an old translations since late Qing dynasty.  

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## 4 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2022-04-29. Score: 3

On a Chinese site called 知乎, there are many discussions on this problem.
Like <https://www.zhihu.com/question/20367818>, <https://www.zhihu.com/question/305881042>.

A summary is that the translation time of "阿富汗" and that of other "斯坦" are not the same. They follow different translation rules.

"斯坦" is just the sound translation of "-stan", which means "the place of".
When translating "阿富汗", “斯坦” is missing because the people who translated the name think that it is not necessary to translate it. You will find that the names of countries that were translated very early are all very short.

Other "斯坦" appears later in the 20th century. At that time, the translation is just following the sound so there is "斯坦".

There are other explanations and details in the discussions. You can visit the above website for further information.


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### Answer by username_3 on 2022-04-29. Score: 2

From my point of view, it's mainly because of 2 reasons:

1. 哈萨克族, 乌兹别克族 and 吉尔吉斯族（usually written as 柯尔克孜族）are included into the 56 official ethnic groups and there are still large groups of people from those origins living in China. So the official need to put "-斯坦" behind those names when referring to the nation itself. But there are no 阿富汗族 somehow in China so it won't be ambiguous when using "阿富汗"
2. 哈萨克, 乌兹别克，吉尔吉斯 and 土库曼 used to be constituent republics of the CCCP(Soviet Union) and was not independent until 1991. But 阿富汗 has always been as an independent nation for years so the translation rules might be different.


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### Answer by username_4 on 2022-04-29. Score: 0

The name 阿富汗 is derived from a very similar name "愛烏罕", which exists in Chinese documentation as early as 1759.

Part of north Afghan, called "巴达克山（بد خشان）" was a subject of early Qing dynasty. The country was later conquered by 愛烏罕 (Afghan's Durrani Empire). Those events are documented by the court of Qing.

See the history of Qing ([清史稿](http://www.guoxue.com/shibu/24shi/qingshigao/qsgx_529.htm)) for reference.


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### Answer by username_5 on 2022-04-29. Score: 0

阿富汗 (Afghan) is the shortened (and preferred) version of 阿富汗斯坦 (Afghanistan) which is the full transliteration, **but no one is using it** because Afghanistan was transliterated a long time ago before, 斯坦 was commonly used in the newly formed nations in modern time

We also commonly use 哈萨克, 土库曼, and 乌兹别克 instead of the full transliterations

斯坦-stan just means nation, it can be omitted in Chinese transliteration

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: But I don't think I've ever seen 阿富汗斯坦 used anywhere. This article for instance uses both , "阿富汗" and "土库曼斯坦"   [1]: https://world.huanqiu.com/article/47PaQwoICPo  

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