adj, name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A member of the Pashtun ethnic group, or of a Pashtun tribe.

   "“They bring shame on me as a Pashtun. They’ve disgraced the name of my people.”"

2. 2
   an ethnic minority speaking Pashto and living in northwestern Pakistan and southeastern Afghanistan wordnet
3. 3
   A Pashto-speaking person.
4. 4
   a member of the mountain people living in the eastern regions of Afghanistan wordnet

Adjective

1. 1
   Of or relating to the Pashtuns (a segmentary-lineage ethnic group currently numbering some 50 million people, which is the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan and the second largest in Pakistan), or to their culture.

   "“What about Zalmai?” he said. “It’s a good Pashtun name.”"

Proper Noun

1. 1
   Pashto: the language of the Pashtun ethnic group.

Synonyms

All synonyms

pathanpathanafghanafghanistanipashtoonpashtoon

Example

More examples

"Ahmad Shah Durrani unified the Pashtun tribes and founded Afghanistan in 1747."

Etymology

Borrowed from Pashto پښتون (pax̌tūn). Doublet of Pathan.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.