Pashto terms of endearment

[Traveller]

I've been thinking lately about Pashto terms of endearment and titles of respect. A major reason for this is that I have noticed that people where I'm from(Peshawar valley and other parts of KPK and FATA) have a bad habit of using Urdu/Desi terms of endearment such as bhai, baji, mamoo, ammi, uncle, auntie etc. I don't really care if people call one or two older cousins of their's "bhaijan" but in the Peshawar valley people have begun using "bhai" more than the traditional Pashto wror and lala. This is a problem because terms of endearment in a language are often the most important markers of the identity associated with that language. For example, I have an Americanized Desi(Punjabi) friend whose family no longer speaks Urdu or Punjabi and instead speaks English as their first language. However he still calls his uncle "chachoo" and his grandmother "nani" and that is a way he retains his Desi identity. Now that I have gotten over the importance of terms of endearment I'm going to start listing down all the different words I have collected so far. Please add any words I have missed. Remember that these are Pashto terms of endearment so no Farsi or Urdu.

Brother(same age): Wror, wror jan

Sister(same age): Khor, Khor jani, Khorakai

Older Brother: Lala, Lala jan, Gul Lala, Peen(speen) Lala, Chan Lala

Older sister: From what I've gathered there are no special words for older sister in Pashto the way there are words for Older brother. A lot of Pakistani Pashtuns use Urdu "baji" but as I said I'm trying to avoid using Urdu

Paternal uncle: Kaka, Kaka jan, Gul Kaka, Chan Kaka, Peen(Speen), Kaka, Kaka ji(I'm making an exception to my no Urdu rule for ji as I feel that it doesn't form the core of the terms it goes with), Tor Dada(what is the exact origin of the word "Dada?"), Speen Dada

Maternal Uncle: Mama, Mama jan, Gul Mama, Chan Mama, Mama ji, Peen(Speen) Mama

Aunt: Tror, Tror jani, Nawi gul(doesn't exactly mean aunt but used some times for aunt-like figures). I might have added variations of bibi on here but I think that's Farsi.

Father: Baba? I'm not sure about this one as I think Baba is originally Arabic. On the other hand I haven't come across any other terms for father that people use that don't come from Urdu or Farsi. I haven't ever come across someone calling their father "Plar."

Mother: Mor, Aday(how do you spell this in Pashto), Mor jani, Morakai, Mama?(probably Arabic but it seems very common in Pashto)

Grandfather: Chan Baba? Baba ji? Is neeka ever used when directly addressing one's grandfather?

Grandmother: Aday, Babo(I think Babo is also used for aunt and mother) I don't think I've ever come across someone simply calling their grandmother "nya."

[Elias]

Have you ever heard someone In KPK using 'Agha' for father? I don't know the origin but it's widely used in Afghanistan.

[Traveller]

Have you ever heard someone In KPK using 'Agha' for father? I don't know the origin but it's widely used in Afghanistan.

Yeah my parents refer/referred to their fathers by some form of Agha.

[Charsi Malang]

Have you ever heard someone In KPK using 'Agha' for father? I don't know the origin but it's widely used in Afghanistan.

The oldest member of my family is referred to as “Agha ji” or “Kaka”

We used to call my dad “Baba” my kids call me “Baba”. A lot of Desis have started using this term but their pronounciation is different.

The oldest brother of a family in our parts can be referred to to as “Dada” or “Dadak”


Pashto in KPK is a joke man ...any Indian could understand half our conversation except if you are a Wazir or from those areas.

[salman47]

For our Morakays: I think it is 'Abay' not 'Aday'.
Also 'Baba'(cognate to 'Papa') is universal. It's origin is definitely not of any existing languages. Same goes for some of the iterations of 'Mama'. It definitely came from our 'Parent Language' of Baba Adam.

[salman47]

For the uncles and brothers you can also add the prefix 'Khan', e.g. Khan Kaka

[salman47]

Sister: Khorey
Little Bro: Rukay(from Wruke or Wroke wror)
Any age Brother: Wrorya

[2jan]

Pekhawar pulhto is a total joke, half of it is urdu.

[khushal]

Have you ever heard someone In KPK using 'Agha' for father? I don't know the origin but it's widely used in Afghanistan.

Agha is not used for father in Afghanistan. Agha is mostly used by farsiwan as a term of respect like south asians use the word bhia. Someone told me it is derived from the Arabic word Akhi(brother). It is commonly used in Iran as well.

Also is bhia used by Hindus and Muslims in South Asia or it only used by Muslims? In USA, I do hear Hindus use it as well, I don't know if they are just using it for my regard thinking I am patan or they use it with each other as well.

[Traveller]

Agha is not used for father in Afghanistan. Agha is mostly used by farsiwan as a term of respect like south asians use the word bhia. Someone told me it is derived from the Arabic word Akhi(brother). It is commonly used in Iran as well.

Also is bhia used by Hindus and Muslims in South Asia or it only used by Muslims? In USA, I do hear Hindus use it as well, I don't know if they are just using it for my regard thinking I am patan or they use it with each other as well.

In KPK a lot of people use "Agha" as a term of respect for elder males in the family, sometimes even for one's father.

As for "bhai", it is used by both Muslims and Hindus in India and Pakistan.

[marwat]

Brother(same age): Wror, wror jan

Sister(same age): Khor, Khor jani, Khorakai

Older Brother: Lala, Lala jan, Gul Lala, Peen(speen) Lala, Chan Lala

Older sister: From what I've gathered there are no special words for older sister in Pashto the way there are words for Older brother. A lot of Pakistani Pashtuns use Urdu "baji" but as I said I'm trying to avoid using Urdu

Paternal uncle: Kaka, Kaka jan, Gul Kaka, Chan Kaka, Peen(Speen), Kaka, Kaka ji(I'm making an exception to my no Urdu rule for ji as I feel that it doesn't form the core of the terms it goes with), Tor Dada(what is the exact origin of the word "Dada?"), Speen Dada

Maternal Uncle: Mama, Mama jan, Gul Mama, Chan Mama, Mama ji, Peen(Speen) Mama

Aunt: Tror, Tror jani, Nawi gul(doesn't exactly mean aunt but used some times for aunt-like figures). I might have added variations of bibi on here but I think that's Farsi.

Father: Baba? I'm not sure about this one as I think Baba is originally Arabic. On the other hand I haven't come across any other terms for father that people use that don't come from Urdu or Farsi. I haven't ever come across someone calling their father "Plar."

Mother: Mor, Aday(how do you spell this in Pashto), Mor jani, Morakai, Mama?(probably Arabic but it seems very common in Pashto)

Grandfather: Chan Baba? Baba ji? Is neeka ever used when directly addressing one's grandfather?

Grandmother: Aday, Babo(I think Babo is also used for aunt and mother) I don't think I've ever come across someone simply calling their grandmother "nya."

in our marwatwala following terms are used.

older brother: badi (this one is especial to our area)
older sister: api, baji (i don't know whether api is pashto word of not)
aunt: dedi (like daydi)
neeka, anya is used respectively fro Grandfather/mother and yes it is used to address them directly.
like 'wa neeka, yo las ruppay kho raka kna'
mother: moray,adi
father: aba, baba

[Elias]

Agha is not used for father in Afghanistan. Agha is mostly used by farsiwan as a term of respect like south asians use the word bhia. Someone told me it is derived from the Arabic word Akhi(brother). It is commonly used in Iran as well.

Also is bhia used by Hindus and Muslims in South Asia or it only used by Muslims? In USA, I do hear Hindus use it as well, I don't know if they are just using it for my regard thinking I am patan or they use it with each other as well.

Tbh I don't interact with south asians and never heard of bhia. So I can't say anything about the term.

Agha can be used as a term of respect but it is also used for father by farsiwans in Afghanistan or at least in Kabul. Agha has mongolian origin says wiki.

[jama0112]

I have never in my entire life heard any afghans(or at least my family) use "agha" as a word for dad.

We do use "plarr" or "baba". But baba is universal, as mentioned before.

But what about "plarr"? Do any of you guys use that word?

[Sarbani]

Agha is not used for father in Afghanistan. Agha is mostly used by farsiwan as a term of respect like south asians use the word bhia. Someone told me it is derived from the Arabic word Akhi(brother). It is commonly used in Iran as well.

It has Turkic origins: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/a%C4%9Fa#Turkish

[Sarbani]

Below I'll list the terms we use in Swabi and these generally tend to apply to the Peshawar Valley as a whole. I'll be listing it in order of what's most common.

My generation (born in the 1990's):

• Father - Baba, Abu, Papa, Babaji
• Maternal Uncle - Mamaji, Mamujan, Mama
• Paternal Uncle - Kakaji, Uncle

• Mother - Ammi, Mama
• Paternal Aunt - Popoji, Popo
• Maternal Aunt - Masi, Aunty

• Older Brother - Bhaijan, Bhai
• Older Sister - Baji

LOL, we're basically Indians.

The younger generations have started calling their older siblings by name and don't use any term at all.

For the older generation (born in the mid-20th century):

• Father - Baba, Babaji
• Paternal Uncle - Kakaji
• Maternal Uncle - Mama

• Mother - Bibi, Mor
• Paternal Aunt - Popo
• Maternal Aunt - Masi

• Older Brother - Lalaji, Ror
• Older Sister - Biji, Khor

As you can see, there was Indic influence even in the past. But its very strong now. Everyone uses "ji" all the time in the Peshawar Valley now. After every sentence an elder tells you, you'll keep replying "kha ji...kha ji...kha ji...kha ji" and if you don't add "ji" to every sentence you say, then it's considered super rude. What a joke.