<P> The suffix - stan (Persian: ـستان ‎ ‎ - stân) is Persian for "place of" or "country". It appears in the names of many regions, especially in Central and South Asia, but also in the Caucasus and Russia; areas where significant amounts of Persian culture were spread or adopted . The suffix is also used more generally, as in Persian, and Urdu rigestân (ریگستان) "place of sand, desert", Pakistan "land of the pure", Hindustan "land of the Indus river", golestân (گلستان) "place of flowers, garden", and in Bengali koborstan (কবরস্থান kabarasthāna) "graveyard / cemetery" etc . </P> <P> The suffix, originally an independent noun, but evolving into a suffix by virtue of appearing frequently as the last part in nominal compounds, is of Indo - Iranian and ultimately Indo - European origin: It is cognate with Sanskrit sthā́na (Devanagari: स्थान (st̪haːna)), meaning "the act of standing", from which many further meanings derive, including "place, location", and ultimately descends from Proto - Indo - Iranian * sthāna - . </P>

Why is stan at the end of countries' names
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