loanwordsreligionword-origins

paradise

Paradise began as the concrete image of a walled garden before becoming a word for an ideal place.

Paradise traces to an old Iranian word for an enclosed park or garden. It passed into Greek paradeisos and then through religious and literary traditions before broadening into the modern idea of a perfect place.

Curated by Moruk, LLCReviewed 2026-08-26Sources and review notes

Trace another word See the app

Language path

Follow the word through time.

Each step adds context. The route is a compact map of the languages and meanings that shaped the word we use today.

1
Old Iranian
pairidaeza
an enclosed garden or park
2
Greek
paradeisos
a park or garden
3
Modern English
paradise
an ideal or perfect place

Meaning today

A place or state imagined as perfect, beautiful, or blissful.

A detail worth knowing

Behind the abstract idea is a physical image: a protected garden with walls around it.

What the evidence supports

Old Iranian *paridaiza named an enclosure, especially a walled garden or park. Greek paradeisos carried the term westward. Its use for sacred gardens in translated religious texts helped turn a designed landscape into an image of heavenly perfection.

What the old meaning left behind

Even figurative uses preserve the garden’s boundaries. A paradise is not merely pleasant; it is imagined as protected from ordinary hardship, abundant, ordered, and set apart.

Sources and notes

This curated page summarizes the references below. When explanations compete or remain uncertain, we avoid presenting a memorable story as settled fact.

Read our editorial policy