The suffix appears in the names of many regions throughout West, Central and South Asia, and parts of the Caucasus and Russia.
[5] Originally an independent noun, this morpheme evolved into a suffix by virtue of appearing frequently as the last part in nominal compounds.
It is cognate with the English word state, Polish stan (estate, or New World first-level subdivisions), and with Sanskrit sthā́na (Devanagari: Sanskrit: स्थान [stʰaːnɐ]), meaning "the act of standing", from which many further meanings derive, including "place, location; abode, dwelling".
Countries adopting the -stan suffix in both English and these countries' national languages include: Some of these nations were also known with the Latinate suffix -ia during their time as Soviet republics: Turkmenistan was frequently Turkmenia, Kyrgyzstan often Kirghizia, and even Uzbekistan and Tajikistan were very occasionally Uzbekia and Tajikia.
The following list shows some examples of some second-level, third-level, and fourth-level subdivisions inside different countries that have their names ending in a -stan-like suffix.