Parsi
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Parsi¹
- /ˈpɑːsiː/ UK
- /ˈpɑɹsiː/ US
Rhymes with -ɑː(ɹ)si
Where it comes from
Borrowed from Gujarati પારસી (pārsī), "as the Gujaratis, from long tradition, called anyone from Iran", in turn derived from Prakrit 𑀧𑀸𑀭𑀲 (pārasa), from Sanskrit पारसि (pārasi), पारसिक (pārasika), from Middle Persian 𐭯𐭠𐭫𐭮𐭩' (pʾlsy /Pārs/), from Old Persian 𐎱𐎠𐎼𐎿 (Pārsa). Also influenced by Classical Persian پَارْسِی (pārsī).
The Indian term is attested many centuries prior to the arrival of the Parsis on the Indian subcontinent, and appears both for Iranians generally, as well as in the specific Iranian sense of Middle Persian pʾlsyk' (/pārsī(k/g)/, “of, or pertaining to, Persia proper"”) to refer to Sassanian kings, e.g. in the 4th-century Mahabharata. The Indian term is thus conventionally assumed to be ultimately a loanword from Middle Persian (or general Middle Iranian) pʾlsyk' (/pārsī(k/g)/, “of, or pertaining to, Persia proper"”). In colonial times, the term was also applied to the Portuguese, and by extension to Europeans in general.
Older texts have Sanskrit पारसस्य (pārasasya, “Perso-Iranian”), etc. Other Iranian ethnonyms found in the Mahābhārata include पह्लव (pahlava), पह्नव (pahnava, “Parthian(s)”), शक (śaka, “(eastern) Scythian(s)”), बाह्लिक (bāhlika, “Bactrian(s)”).
noun Parsis · Parsee · Passee · Pausee
- A member of the larger and older of the two Zoroastrian communities of the Indian subcontinent (the other community being that of the Iranis).
adjective Parsee · Passee · Pausee
- Of, or pertaining to, the larger and older of the two Zoroastrian communities of the Indian subcontinent.
Parsi²
- /ˈpɑːsiː/ UK
- /ˈpɑɹsiː/ US
Rhymes with -ɑː(ɹ)si
Where it comes from
Borrowed from Classical Persian پَارْسِی (pārsī). By surface analysis, Pars + -i.
adjective Pārsī · Pársí
- Persian. The specimen No. 1 in Plate XVII., is copied from the end of a very beautiful manuscript of the Bibliothèque Royale at Paris, containing the celebrated heroic poem of Ferdusi, intitled Shah-Nameh, or the Book of Kings; a composition of 60,000 verses, written in the tenth century in the Parsi dialect
noun Parsis · Pārsī · Pársí
- A Persian. This is a well-known fact, that the language spoken by conquerors who have established themselves, when it has been disseminated amongst people, great and small, has become the common language of the country. Just as in Baghdád, where originally but little Persian was spoken, when the Khalífa's dyna
proper noun Pārsī · Pársí
- The Persian language. To this dialect, two epochs may be attributed, namely, that of Ferdusi and other ancient Persian poets, who used only the words of their national language, as spoken in the courts of their sovereigns before the Arab conquest; and that of the modern Parsi or Persian, properly so called, which in cons
Translations
Talk about this word "Parsi." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/parsi. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. Parsi. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/parsi "Parsi." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/parsi.Cite this
@misc{parsi_2026,
title = {Parsi},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/parsi},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
