Tajik
/ˈtɑːd͡ʒɪk/ noun, adjective, proper noun
Forms Tajiks Tadjik Tadzhik Taujik
- noun A member of the Persian-speaking people living mainly in Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan.
- adjective Of or pertaining to the Tajiks.
- adjective Of, from, or pertaining to Tajikistan.
- adjective Of or relating to Tajiki Persian.
- proper noun The Persian dialect spoken by Tajiks in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Synonyms
Tajiki Tajikistani Tajiki Persian Tajik Persian Tadzhik Tajikistan Republic of Tajikistan Tadzhikistan Tadjik
Etymology
From Classical Persian تاجیک (tājīk, “non-Turk (of Central Asia)”) (akin to تازی (tāzī), تازیک (tāzīk)), (ultimately) from Middle Persian tʾcyk' (tāzīg, “Arab”), (ultimately) from Arabic طَيِّئ (ṭayyiʔ, “name of an Arab clan”). See Tayy.
Popular folk etymology traces the word to Tajik тоҷ (toj, “crown”) (see Arabic تَاج (tāj), from Persian تاج (tâj, “crown”)), but this is false.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “Tajik”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details