Pathan
/pəˈtɑːn/noun
A member of a Pashtun people, especially in South Asia.
Did you know?Pathan is an English form traditionally used for Pashtuns, and its history reflects how ethnonyms can travel through Persian and South Asian languages before entering English.
Etymological Timeline
Ancient Iranian
Iranian
*Parśava / *Pārśū-
“An early ethnonym sometimes connected in scholarship to the ancestors of the Pashtuns, though the deeper origin is uncertain.”
Middle Persian
Persian
Pāṭhān / Pātān
“A name used in Persianate contexts for Pashtun people.”
16th–17th Century
Urdu
Pāṭhān
“A South Asian term for a Pashtun, especially in Indo-Muslim usage.”
18th Century
English
Pathan
“An English borrowing used for a Pashtun person, especially in British colonial writing.”