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 *meytH- (“to change, exchange”). Cognate with Northern Luri مؽمۏ (mêmö), Pashto مېلمه (melma).

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): [mih.mɑːn]

 

• (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]

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

Noun

Dari	مهمان
Iranian Persian
Tajik	меҳмон

مهمان • (mehmân) (plural مهمانان (mehmânân) or مهمان‌ها (mehmân-hâ))

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

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

Descendants

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

→ Hindustani:

Hindi: मेहमान (mehmān)

Urdu: مہمان (mehmān)

References

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