Maidan is an originally Persian میدان word for a town square or public gathering place, adopted by various other languages: Urdu میدان (maidān); Arabic مَيْدَان (maydān); Turkish meydan; Bangla ময়দান, meaning field, and Crimean Tatar, from which Ukrainian also borrowed maidan. Its ultimate source is Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos - compare Avestan maiδya, Sanskrit मध्य (madhya) and Latin medius. Various versions include maydan, midan, meydan, majdan, mayadeen and maydān. It also means field (मैदान) in Hindi. It became a loanword in other South Asian languages to give similar means, such as in Tamil in which the word is maidhanam.

The broad geographical footprint of the use of Maidan in toponymy, from Central Europe to South-East Asia, is a reflection of the Turkish rule in these areas.