Khazana

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A treasure trove or storehouse, often implying a rich collection of valuable items
2. a place designated for storing wealth and riches, functioning as a repository for precious assets
3. a metaphorical or literal cache where valuable resources or treasures are kept for safekeeping

Etymology: The Arabic "khizāna" meant a storehouse or treasury, and it comes from a root meaning "to store up." Its Persian and Urdu-speaking descendants kept that core sense, so the word names the place where valuables are kept as much as the valuables themselves. The best-known example is at Petra in Jordan. The rock-cut façade called the Treasury is known in Arabic as "Al-Khazneh," and local Bedouin traditionally believed it hid a pharaoh's riches. Nobody ever found any, so the name records a hope rather than a hoard. In Malay, "khazanah" has kept the institutional sense, as in the Malaysian sovereign investment fund Khazanah Nasional, which takes its name from the idea of a national treasury.

Synonyms: treasure, hoard, cache, stash, wealth

Antonyms: poverty, lack, scarcity, deficiency, shortage