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 (mêmö), Pashto مېلمه (melma).

Pronunciation

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

(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^?	mehon

Audio (Iran): (file)

Noun


Iranian Persian	مهمان
Dari	مهمان
Tajik	меҳмон

مهمان • (mehmân) (plural مهمانان, or مهمان‌ها)

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)
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)
→ 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