پرچم

Persian

Etymology

Early attestations in Persian include Anvārī and Khāqānī from the mid-1100s.

A Wanderwort of unknown origin, but probably immediately borrowed from Oghuz. The Arabic-Turkic dictionary Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk, written in 1074, gives [script needed] (berčem) as the Oghuz word for "the tail of a wild ox that warriors wear on the day of battle," with [script needed] (bečkem) as the Karakhanid equivalent.[1] Compare Wakhi bičkám (“horse or goat tail”).

The original meaning is "hair on the yak-tail standard", identical to the Turkic meaning. For unclear reasons, this word was promoted over existing words for "flag," including both the Arabic loan علم (alam) and the native word درفش (derafš), during the early twentieth-century language purification reforms.[2] It is now the most common word for "flag".

Pronunciation
 
  • (Dari, formal) IPA(key): [pʰäɾ.t͡ʃʰǽm]
    • (Kabuli) IPA(key): [pʰäɾ.t͡ʃʰǽm]
    • (Hazaragi) IPA(key): [pʰäɾ.t͡ʃʰǽm]

Readings
Classical reading? parčam
Dari reading? parčam
Iranian reading? parčam
Tajik reading? parčam

Noun
Dari پرچم
Iranian Persian
Tajik парчам

پرچم • (parčam) (plural پرچم‌ها (parčam-hâ))

  1. flag; banner
    Synonyms: درفش (derafš), بیرق (beyraq), رایت (râyat), علم (alam), لوا (levâ)
    پرچم ایران ― parčam-e irân ― the Iranian flag, the flag of Iran
  2. (obsolete) yak or horse tail hair hung on the tuğ of nomadic armies
    • c. 1180, Anvārī, “Qaṣīda 128”, in دیوان انوری [Dīvān of Anvārī]‎:
      در کوکبهٔ تو طرهٔ شب
      بر نیزهٔ بندگانت پرچم
      dar kawkaba-yi tu turra-yi šab
      bar nēza-yi bandagān-at parčam
      In your triumphal march, the ringlets of night's hair
      Are yak tails on the lances of your servants.
      (Classical Persian transliteration)
  3. (obsolete, figurative) lock of hair fluttering over the forehead

Descendants
  • → Hindustani:
    Hindi: परचम (parcam)
    Urdu: پَرْچَم (parcam)

References
  1. Doerfer, Gerhard (1963–1975) Türkische und mongolische Elemente im Neupersischen [Turkic and Mongolian Elements in New Persian] (Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur: Veröffentlichungen der Orientalischen Kommission)‎ (in German), Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag
  2. A. Shapur Shahbazi (January 31, 2012) “FLAGS i. Of Persia”, in Encyclopædia Iranica‎

Urdu

Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian پرچم (parčam).

Pronunciation
  • (Standard Urdu) IPA(key): /pəɾ.t͡ʃəm/
  • Rhymes: -əm
  • Hyphenation: پَرْ‧چَم

Noun

پَرْچَم • (parcam) m (Hindi spelling परचम)

  1. flag, banner
    Synonyms: جَھنْڈَا (jhanḍā), لَوَا (lavā)
    پرچم کشائی ― parcam kuśā'ī ― Flag hoisting

Declension
Declension of پرچم
singular plural
direct پَرْچَم (parcam) پَرْچَم (parcam)
oblique پَرْچَم (parcam) پَرْچَموں (parcamō̃)
vocative پَرْچَم (parcam) پَرْچَمو (parcamō)

References
  • “پرچم”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.
  • “پرچم”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2024.
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