Afghan

Meanings

1. A person from Afghanistan.
2. A person of Pashtun ethnicity.
3. Synonym of Afghan rug.
4. Synonym of Afghan Hound.
5. Synonym of Afghan coat.
6. Alternative letter-case form of afghan (“crocheted or knitted blanket or throw”)
7. Alternative letter-case form of afghan (“type of iced chocolate biscuit”)

1. Pashto, a language primarily spoken by Pashtun people in Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan.
2. Clipping of Afghanistan.

1. Of, from or relating to Afghanistan, its people, or its culture.
2. Of, from, or pertaining to the Pashtun ethnic community.

1. A blanket or throw, usually crocheted or knitted.
2. A type of iced chocolate biscuit, sometimes containing cornflakes and topped with a walnut.

Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian افغان (afġān, “Afghan”), from Bactrian αβαγανο (abagano), first attested in the fourth century CE, most likely a compound of *apāka- (“distant, faraway”), from Proto-Iranian *Hápa, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *Hápa (“away”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó + *-āna (“ethnic group”), from Proto-Indo-European *-nós, thus: "people from a distant land". Various scholars have proposed Sanskrit etymologies since the nineteenth century (especially prior to the 2007 publication of earlier Bactrian attestations for the word), but linguist Johnny Cheung notes that these are "extremely difficult to reconcile" with recent evidence pointing to a Bactrian source.