# Afghan

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈæfˌɡæn/ · frequency rank #9,130

## Definitions
1. A person from Afghanistan.
2. A person of Pashtun ethnicity.
3. Synonym of Afghan rug.
4. Synonym of Afghan Hound.
5. Synonym of Afghan coat.
6. Alternative letter-case form of afghan (“crocheted or knitted blanket or throw”)
7. Alternative letter-case form of afghan (“type of iced chocolate biscuit”)

## Etymology
Borrowed from Classical Persian افغان (afġān, “Afghan”), from Bactrian αβαγανο (abagano), first attested in the fourth century CE, most likely a compound of *apāka- (“distant, faraway”), from Proto-Iranian *Hápa, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *Hápa (“away”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó + *-āna (“ethnic group”), from Proto-Indo-European *-nós, thus: "people from a distant land". Various scholars have proposed Sanskrit etymologies since the nineteenth century (especially prior to the 2007 publication of earlier Bactrian attestations for the word), but linguist Johnny Cheung notes that these are "extremely difficult to reconcile" with recent evidence pointing to a Bactrian source.

## Easily confused with
- **Aegean** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/aegean-vs-afghan)

## Common misspellings (9)
`affghan`, `afgahn`, `afgghan`, `afghann`, `afghhan`, `afghna`, `afhgan`, `agfhan`, `faghan`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/afghan