مهمان

See also: مہمان

Persian

Alternative forms

• میهمان (mihmân)
• مهمون (mehmun) (colloquial)

Etymology

Inherited from Middle Persian [Book Pahlavi needed] (m(ʾ)hmʾn' /⁠mehmān⁠/, “inhabitant; guest”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- (“to change, exchange”). Cognate with Northern Luri مؽمۏ (mêmö), Pashto مېلمه (melma).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): /mih.ˈmaːn/

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [me̞ɦ.mɑːn]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [me̞ɦ.mɑːn]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [mɪ.mɑːn]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [mi.mɔːn]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [meɦ.mɒːn]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [meɦ.mɔn]

• Rhymes: -aːn

Readings
Classical reading?	mihmān
Dari reading?	mehmān
Iranian reading?	mehmân
Tajik reading?	mehmon

• Audio (Iran):

  (file)

Noun

مهمان • (mihmān / mehmân) (plural مهمانان (mihmānān / mehmânân), or مهمان‌ها (mihmān-hā / mehmân-hâ), Tajik spelling меҳмон)

1. guest

   Synonym: (archaic) سپنج (sepanj)

   Antonym: میزبان (mizbân, “host”)

   • c. 1380, Jahān Malik Khātūn, “Ghazal 379”, in دیوان جهان [Divān-i Jahān]‎^[1]:

     در فراقت دلم به جان آمد
     آمدم یک شبی به مهمانت

     dar firāq-at dil-am ba jān āmad
     āmadam yak šabē ba mihmān-at

     Out of parting from you, my heart came to death's verge;
     Then one night, I came to you as a guest.

     (Classical Persian romanization)

2. patron of a hotel or restaurant

Derived terms

• مهمان کردن (mehmân kardan)
• مهمانخانه (mehmânxâne)
• مهمانی (mehmâni)
• مهمان‌نواز (mehmân-navâz)
• مهمان‌نوازی (mehmân-navâzi)
• مهمان‌پذیر (mehmân-pazir)
• مهمان‌پرست (mehmân-parast)
• مهمان‌پرستی (mehmân-parasti)
• مهما‌ن‌دار (mehmân-dâr)

Descendants

• → Armenian: մեհման (mehman)
• → Azerbaijani: mehman
• → Bengali: মেহমান (mehman)
• → Kazakh: мейман (meyman)
• → Ottoman Turkish: مهمان (mihmân)
• → Turkmen: myhman
• → Hindustani:

  Hindi: मेहमान (mehmān)

  Urdu: مہمان (mehmān)

• → Kachchi: મેમાણ (memāṇ)
• → Uyghur: مېھمان (mëhman)

References

• Edelʹman, D. I. (2015), “*¹mait-”, in Этимологический словарь иранских языков [Etimologičeskij slovarʹ iranskix jazykov, Etymological Dictionary of Iranian Languages] (in Russian), volume 5, Moscow: Vostochnaya Literatura, pages 153-4

Sindhi

Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian مِهْمَان (mihmān).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [meːɦ.maːn]

Noun

مَهِمانُ • (mahimānu) m

1. guest, visitor

Further reading

• Parmanand, Mewaram (1910), “مهمان”, in Sindhi-English Dictionary, Hyderabad, Sindh: The Sind Juvenile Co-operative Society, page 575
• Stack, George (1849), “मिह्मानु”, in A dictionary, English and Sindhi, American Mission Press, page 67
• Sindhi Language Authority (2026), “مهمان”, in Online Sindhi Dictionaries‎^[2]