hindu kush
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.97 in modern English
20
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
name
A mountain range in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Etymology
Ultimately derived from Classical Persian هِنْدُوکُش (hindūkuš), the etymology of which is uncertain. * According to Ibn Battuta and popular etymology, from Classical Persian هِنْدُو (hindū, “Hindu”) + کُش (kuš, present stem of کُشْتَن (kuštan, “to kill”)), literally “Hindu-killer”. * According to others, a corruption of Classical Persian هِنْدُوکوه (hindūkōh), itself a compound of هِنْدُو (hindū, “Hindu”) + کوه (kōh, “mountain”), literally “mountain of the Hindus”, in which case the name would be related to the term Hindkowan used to describe people living near the region who speak Hindko. Attested in English from the 18th century.
Word Breakdown
- Root: هِنْدُوکُش