yakhchal

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English

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Wikipedia
A yakhchal

Etymology

Borrowed from Persian یخچال (literally “ice pit”).

Noun

yakhchal (plural yakhchals)

  1. (architecture) An type of icehouse, built mainly in Persia (present-day Iran), that functions as an evaporative cooler, having a domed shape above ground and a subterranean storage space.
    • 2014, Somaiyeh Falahat, Re-imaging the City, Springer, page 155:
      Furthermore, constructions such as the Yakhchal and Abanbar, which were built exclusively to stock water, had to have direct access to water courses.
    • 2016, Zeeshan Khan, Right to Passage, SAGE Publishing, Yoda Press, page 217:
      Jawaad takes us first to the Kerman Library, a stately old building with beautiful arches that, oddly enough, began life as a textile factory, and then to the parks around the yakhchal or icehouse. Yakhchals are a staggering feat of ancient engineering.
    • 2019, Amir A. Afkhami, A Modern Contagion, JHU Press, page 151:
      Owners of ice pits (yakhchal) were required to guarantee the purity and hygiene of the water and pits that they used in making ice.

Usage notes

  • Often italicised.
  • There is some overlap between buildings called yakhchal and those called abanbar (“water reservoir”).

Further reading

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