پشت

See also: بست, پست, and تست

Ottoman Turkish

Etymology

Borrowed from Persian پشت (pošt).

Noun

پشت • (püşt)

1. back, the rear of the body from the neck to the end of the spine

   Synonyms: آرد (ard), آرقه (arka), صرت (sırt), ظهر (zahr)

2. the outside, the outer surface or cover of any thing
3. generation or step in succession of natural descent
4. support, backing, protection, assistance, aid
5. strength, energy, substance, stamina, vigour
6. (figuratively) passive sodomite, man who receives anal sex

Derived terms

• پشتلق (püştlük, “sodomy”)
• پشتمازه (püstmaze, “middle vertebra”)
• پشتمال (peştamal, “large towel”)
• پشتواره (püştvare, “load for the back”)

Descendants

• Turkish: püşt

Further reading

• Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007), “püşt”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), volume 1, Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 3920
• Kélékian, Diran (1911), “پشت”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎^[1] (in French), Constantinople: Mihran, page 322
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1687), “Dorsum”, in Complementum thesauri linguarum orientalium, seu onomasticum latino-turcico-arabico-persicum, simul idem index verborum lexici turcico-arabico-persici, quod latinâ, germanicâ, aliarumque linguarum adjectâ nomenclatione nuper in lucem editum‎^[2], Vienna, column 432
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1680), “پشت”, in Thesaurus linguarum orientalium, Turcicae, Arabicae, Persicae, praecipuas earum opes à Turcis peculiariter usurpatas continens, nimirum Lexicon Turkico-Arabico-Persicum‎^[3], Vienna, column 828
• Redhouse, James W. (1890), “پشت”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎^[4], Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 448

Persian

Alternative forms

• پشد (pošd) (dialectal, Isfahan)

Etymology 1

Inherited from Proto-Iranian *pr̥štáh (“back”). Cognate with Avestan 𐬞𐬀𐬭𐬱𐬙𐬀 (paršta), Sanskrit पृष्ठ (pṛṣṭha).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): /ˈpuʃt/

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [pʰʊʃt̪]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [pʰʊʃt̪]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [pʰʊʃt̪]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [pʰuʃt̪]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [pʰoʃt̪ʰ]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [pʰuʃt̪]

Readings
Classical reading?	pušt
Dari reading?	pušt
Iranian reading?	pošt
Tajik reading?	pušt

• Audio (Iran):

  (file)

Noun

پشت • (pušt / pošt) (Tajik spelling пушт)

1. back (posterior part of the body)

   پشت بر دیوار ― pušt bar dēwār / pošt bar divâr ― [with] the back to the wall

   • c. 1260s, Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Rūmī, translated by Reynold A. Nicholson, مثنوی معنوی [Masnavi-ye-Ma'navi], volume II, verse 221:

     […] کان خرش در چنگ گرگی مانده بود، پاره‌ها از پشت و رانش می‌ربود.

     […] k-ân xaraš dar čang-e gorgi mânde bud, pâre-hâ az pošt o rânaš mi-rabud.

     […] that his donkey was left in the clutch of a wolf, [which] was tearing pieces [of flesh] from its back and thighs.

2. rear, back (of anything)

   Synonyms: عقب ('aqab), پس (pas)

3. the exterior
4. generation, descent
   • 1427, ابن حسام خوسفی, “خاوران‌نامه [Khāvarān-nāma]”, in Julia Rubanovich, transl., On Representations of Jews in Medieval Persian Epic Poetry‎^[5], Irano-Judaica VII (2019), page 361:

     تو را گفت دانا بباید شنود / ببر تا بهفتاد پشت از یهود / جهودان و هندو که بدگوهرند / همی هر یکی بدتر از دیگرند

     to-râ goft-e dânâ be-bâyad šonud / be-bor tâ be-haftâd pošt az yahud / johudân o hendu ke bad-gowhar-and / hami har yeki bad-tar az digar-and

     You should listen to the words of the wise: "Cut yourself off from Jews up to seventy generations; Jews and Indians are ill-natured; one is worse than the other."

5. support, means of support
   • c. 1260s, Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Rūmī, translated by Reynold A. Nicholson, مثنوی معنوی [Masnavi-ye-Ma'navi], volume I, verse 3922:

     هر که را آتش پناه و پشت شد، هم مجوسی گشت و هم زردشت شد

     har ke râ âtash panâh o post šod, ham majusi gašt o ham zardošt šod.

     Any one to whom fire is a refuge and support becomes both a Magian and a Zoroaster.

6. (archaic) catamite

Derived terms

verbs

• پشت دادن (pošt dâdan, “to support”)
• پشت کردن (pošt kardan, “to turn one's back”)

other

• بی‌پشت (bi-pošt)
• لاک‌پشت (lâk-pošt)
• پشت بام (pošt-e bâm)
• پشت بند (pošt-band)
• پشت دار (pošt-dâr)
• پشت دستی (pošt-e dasti)
• پشت زانو (pošt-e zânu)
• پشت سر (pošt-e sar)
• پشت پا (pošt-e pâ)
• پشت کار (pošt-e kâr)
• پشت گرم (pošt-garm)
• گوژپشت (gužpošt)

Descendants

• → Chagatai: پشت (pšt /⁠pušt⁠/)
  • Uyghur: پۇشت (pusht)
  • Uzbek: pusht
• → Hindustani:

  Hindi: पुश्त (puśt)

  Urdu: پشت (puśt)

• → Ottoman Turkish: پوشت (puşt), بوشت (buşt)
  • Turkish: puşt
  • → Albanian: posht
  • → Armenian: փուշտ (pʻušt)
  • → Aromanian: pushtu
  • → Bulgarian: пущ (pušt)
  • → Greek: πούστης (poústis)
  • → Romanian: puști
  • → Serbo-Croatian: пушт, pušt
• → Punjabi:

  Gurmukhi script: ਪੁਸ਼ਤ (puśt)

  Shahmukhi script: پشت (puśt)

• → Turkmen: pyşt

Preposition

Picture dictionary

پشت

بالا

پایین

در

جلوی

پشت

روی

کنار

زیر

میان

Prepositions of location

پشت • (pušt-i / pošt-e) (Tajik spelling пушти)

1. behind

   وی پشت درخت پنهان می‌شود. (literary)

   vey pošt-e deraxt panhân mi-šavad.

   He/she is hiding behind the tree.

   اون پشت درخت پنهون می‌شه. (colloquial)

   un pošt-e deraxt penhun mi-še.

   He/she is hiding behind the tree.

Etymology 2

Onomatopoeic.

Pronunciation

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [pʃ̩t̪], [pʰɪʃt̪]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [pʃ̩t̪], [pʰɪʃt̪]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [pʃ̩t̪], [pʰɪʃt̪]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [pʃ̩t̪], [pʰiʃt̪]

Readings
Dari reading?	pš̩t, pišt

Interjection

پشت • (pišt / -)

1. (Dari, to scare away cats) shoo!

Urdu

Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian پُشْت (pušt).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /pʊʃt̪/

Noun

پُشْت • (puśt) f (Hindi spelling पुश्त)

1. the back
2. generation, descent, extraction
3. rearguard

Further reading

• “پشت”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2026.
• Qureshi, Bashir Ahmad (1971), “پشت”, in Kitabistan's 20th Century Standard Dictionary, Lahore: Kitabistan Pub. Co.