Afghan
nounA soft blanket or shawl made of knitted or crocheted wool, often in colourful patterns.
How to spell afghan
6 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce afghan
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does afghan mean?
- nounA soft blanket or shawl made of knitted or crocheted wool, often in colourful patterns.
Afghan in a sentence
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Her grandmother crocheted a striped afghan for the new baby.
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On cold evenings she pulled a wool afghan over her knees on the sofa.
Where does afghan come from?
Language of origin: Other
This word is the place-and-people name Afghan pressed into service as an ordinary noun. The name Afghan reached English through Persian, where afghan referred to the people of the mountainous region that became Afghanistan; its deeper roots are debated, though it has long been linked to the Pashto-speaking peoples themselves. By the 1700s English writers used Afghan for a native of the country and for its language, and during the 1800s the lower-case afghan was attached to colourful woollen goods supposedly resembling Central Asian textiles. From there it settled on two everyday objects: a soft knitted or crocheted blanket, and a shaggy sheepskin-lined coat. The spelling keeps the silent, un-English-looking 'gh' cluster from the original name, which is exactly the part writers stumble over, since the sound is just a plain hard g.
How the word is built
- afghan (from the proper name Afghan, a person of Afghanistan) used as a common noun for an item associated with that region
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