-abad is a suffix that forms part of many west, central and south Asian city names originally derived from the Persian language term ābād (آباد), meaning "cultivated place" (village, city, region), and commonly attached to the name of the city's founder or patron. In the Indian subcontinent, -abads are the legacies of Persianized Muslim rulers such as the Mughals. The suffix is most common in Iran, which contains thousands of -abads, most of them small villages. Markazi Province alone contained 44 Hoseynabads, 31 Aliabads, 23 Hajjiabads, 22 Hasanabads, and so on.