باختر

Persian

Etymology

Inherited from Middle Persian [script needed] (ʾpʾhtl /⁠abāxtar⁠/, “north”), derived from Avestan 𐬀𐬞𐬁𐬑𐬙𐬀𐬭𐬀 (apāxtara, “north; direction of the daevas, direction of Ahriman, direction of Hell”), from Old Iranian *apāxtara (“retrograde, backward-turning”), comparative stem based on *apāk-/*apāŋ (“backward”), from the preposition *apa (“behind”), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *apatamás, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂epo-tm̥mo-, from *h₂epó (“from, away, off”).

See also Albanian afër (“close, nearby”), Gothic 𐌰𐍆𐌰𐍂 (afar, “after”), Old Persian 𐎠𐎱𐎼 (apara, “later, after”), Avestan 𐬀𐬞𐬀𐬭𐬀 (apara, “more behind, later”).

Noun

Dari	باختر
Iranian Persian
Tajik	бохтар

باختر • (bâxtar)

1. west
2. (obsolete) north

Descendants

• → Urdu: باختر (bāxtar)

Proper noun

Dari	باختر
Iranian Persian
Tajik	Бохтар

باختر • (bâxtar)

1. Bokhtar (a city, the provincial capital of Khatlon, Tajikistan)
2. Bactria (the ancient Greek name of the country between the range of the Hindu Kush and the Amu Darya in the Middle East, encompassing parts of northern Afghanistan, eastern Turkmenistan, southern Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and northern Pakistan)

Urdu

Etymology

From Classical Persian باختر (bāxtar).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /bɑːx.t̪əɾ/

Noun

باخْتَر • (bāxtar) ? (Hindi spelling बाख़्तर)

1. west
2. Khorasan; Central Asia
3. (dialectal) east