دژ

ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dus- (“bad”)

• (Classical Persian): IPA^(key): /duʒ~diʒ/

• (Dari): IPA^(key): /dʊʒ~dɪʒ/

• (Iranian Persian): IPA^(key): /doʒ~deʒ/
• (Tajik): IPA^(key): /duʒ~diʒ/

دژ or دژ • (dož- or dež-)

1. bad, difficult, hard

Iranian, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰoyǵʰhos (“wall”), from the root *dʰeyǵʰ-; see there for further information.

The less common form دز‎ (dez) is from Middle Persian KLYTA / dc (diz, “fortress”)

• دز‎ (dez)

• (Classical Persian): IPA^(key): /diʒ/

• (Dari): IPA^(key): /dɪʒ/

• (Iranian Persian): IPA^(key): /deʒ/
• (Tajik): IPA^(key): /diʒ/

دژ • (dež) (plural دژها‎ (dež-hâ))

1. fort, fortress

• دژبان‎ (dežbân)
• دژبانی‎ (dežbâni)
• دژدار‎ (deždâr)

• → Urdu: دژ‎ (daž)

• MacKenzie, D. N. (1971), “diz”, in A concise Pahlavi dictionary, London, New York, Toronto: Oxford University Press
• Rastorgujeva, V. S.; Edelʹman, D. I. (2003) Etimologičeskij slovarʹ iranskix jazykov [Etymological Dictionary of Iranian Languages] (in Russian), volume II, Moscow: Vostochnaya Literatura, pages 311—316

From Classical Persian دژ‎ (diž).

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /d̪əʒ/, /d̪ɪʒ/
• (Deccani) IPA^(key): /d̪əʒ/, /d̪ɪʒ/

دژ • (daž) ?

1. fortress, fort; citadel
2. castle

• دژبان‎ (dažbān, “fort-keeper”)
• دژدار‎ (daždār)
• دژ ِ رُوئیں‎ (daž-e-rū'ī)

• “دژ”, in اُردُو لُغَت (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.