pathan
noun
Simple meaning
A person from a large ethnic group in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
pathuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈpæθən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
British IndiaSouth Asia
Synonym of Pashtun; a member of the Pashto-speaking people of today's north-west Pakistan and south-east Afghanistan.
A member of the mountain people living in the eastern regions of Afghanistan
“Pathans are the predominant ethnic group in Afghanistan.”
An ethnic minority speaking Pashto and living in northwestern Pakistan and southeastern Afghanistan
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.