'baluchistan' originates from Persian, specifically the element 'Baloch' (the name of the ethnic group) combined with the Persian suffix '-stan,' where 'Baloch' referred to the Baloch people and '-stan' meant 'land' or 'place of.'

'baluchistan' came into English usage via Persian forms such as 'Baluchestan' (or 'Balochestan') used in regional and colonial maps and writings; over time the Persian compound was adopted into English as 'Baluchistan'/'Balochistan' and appears in 19th- and 20th-century sources referring to the same region.

Initially it literally meant 'land of the Baloch,' and it has largely retained that geographic and ethnic meaning in modern usage, though its political boundaries and administrative senses have varied.