Word.ws English Dictionary

Parsi

UK/ˈpɑːsiː//ˈpɑɹsiː/

Parsi noun: a member of the larger and older of the two Zoroastrian communities of the Indian subcontinent (the other community being that of the Iranis).

Noun (1)

Parsi (plural Parsis)

  1. 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 (1)

Parsi (not comparable)

  1. Of, or pertaining to, the larger and older of the two Zoroastrian communities of the Indian subcontinent.

Adjective (2)

Parsi (not comparable)

  1. 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...1849, Universal Palæography, page 53
    • 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...1871, The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians, volume 3, page 562

Noun (2)

Parsi (plural Parsis)

  1. 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...1871, The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians, volume 3, page 562

Proper noun

Parsi

  1. 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...1849, Universal Palæography, page 53
    • “Hind has observed the same rule in respect to language. In olden time it was Hindúí. When the tribes, great and small, became intermixed, every one, bad and good, learnt Pársí, and all the other languages which existed never moved from their bounds. As God had taught them all, it is not proper to...1871, The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians, volume 3, page 562

Parsi meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Urdu and Bengali

Parsi in Hindi

member of the larger and older Zoroastrian community of the Indian subcontinent
पारसी pārsī
of, or pertaining to, the larger and older Zoroastrian community of the Indian subcontinent
पारसी pārsī

Parsi in Marathi

Parsi
पारशी pārśī

Parsi in Urdu

member of the larger and older Zoroastrian community of the Indian subcontinent
پَارْسِی pārsī

Parsi in Bengali

member of the larger and older Zoroastrian community of the Indian subcontinent
পারসিক parśik
More languagesFewer languages
Parsi in Kannada
ಪಾರಿಸಿ, ಪಾರಸಿ, ಪಾರ್ಸಿ
Parsi in Punjabi
ਪਾਰਸੀ pārsī
Parsi in Gujarati
પારસી pārsī
Parsi in Odia
ପାରସୀ pārasi, ପାରଶୀ pāraśi
Parsi in Indonesian
Parsi
Parsi in Persian
پَارْسِی pârsi

Examples of Parsi in a sentence

  • It was perhaps this picture of awakening nature in a mountain valley, which a thousand years ago inspired that great Tadzhik mountaineer, the immortal founder of classical Parsi poetry, Rudaki: […]1962, New Orient, page 44:
  • Parsi was a heterogeneous language, each author enlarging it with something typical of his native dialect.1967, Michaël I. Zand, Six Centuries of Glory: Essays on Medieval Literature of Iran and Transoxania, page 30:
  • Parsi was again declared to be the official language and all other languages, including Azari that does not even belong to the Iranian language group, were demoted to local dialects.1985, Ethnography of Language Change, page 184:

Forms of Parsi

Noun
pluralParsis
alternative formParsee
alternative formPassee
alternative formPausee
Adjective
alternative formPārsī
alternative formPársí

Origin of Parsi

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...

Borrowed from Classical Persian پَارْسِی (pārsī). By surface analysis, Pars + -i.

Words formed from Parsi

  • Parsic
  • Parsiism
  • Parseeism: older terms for the religious beliefs and practices of the Parsis
  • i.e. Zoroastrianism.
  • Parsism

Words that rhyme with Parsi

Questions about Parsi

What does Parsi mean?
Parsi means a member of the larger and older of the two Zoroastrian communities of the Indian subcontinent (the other community being that of the Iranis).
What is Parsi in Hindi?
Parsi in Hindi is पारसी (pārsī). See Parsi meaning in Hindi.
How do you use Parsi in a sentence?
It was perhaps this picture of awakening nature in a mountain valley, which a thousand years ago inspired that great Tadzhik mountaineer, the immortal founder of classical Parsi poetry, Rudaki: […]
What part of speech is Parsi?
Parsi can be a noun, an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce Parsi?
Parsi is pronounced /ˈpɑːsiː/ (UK).
What is the plural of Parsi?
The plural of Parsi is Parsis.

Words near Parsi in the dictionary

  1. parsha
  2. Parshall
  3. Parshalls
  4. parshas
  5. parshioth
  6. Parsi
  7. parsib
  8. Parsic
  9. Parsies
  10. Parsiism
  11. parsil

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Parsi (page history and authors); पारशी (Marathi) (page history and authors); Parsi (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਪਾਰਸੀ (Punjabi) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “Parsi.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/parsi. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.