Caravanserai comes from Persian kārvānsarāy, a compound of kārvān ('caravan') and sarāy ('palace, inn, enclosed building'). The historical trail runs through kārvānsarāy in Persian. Morphologically, caravanserai is transparent: it draws on Persian kārvānsarāy, a compound of kārvān ('caravan') and sarāy ('palace, inn, enclosed building'). Used as a noun, caravanserai now means "an inn with a central court for caravans along Eastern trade routes", so the present definition can be read against the older forms and meanings. The same lexical family is also visible in related forms such as caravan. The result is a borrowed or transmitted form whose modern spelling carries a compact record of its route into English.