Etymology

Kushan

K5U1S1H4A1N1

Today it means: A member of an ancient Central Asian tribe; later, a member of the ruling dynasty and people of the Kushan Empire. Full definition →

Sanskrit कुषाण ← Hindi कुषाण ← Middle Persian [script needed]
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Kushan · noun, adjective, proper noun1

  1. Bactrian · derived fromΚοϸανο
  2. Middle Persian · borrowed from[script needed]
  3. Hindi · borrowed fromकुषाण
  4. Sanskrit · derived fromकुषाण
  5. English todayKushan

From Sanskrit कुषाण (kuṣāṇa) via Hindi कुषाण (kuṣāṇ), or from Middle Persian [script needed] (kušān /⁠kwšn⁠/), either way from Bactrian Κοϸανο (Košano), ultimately from Chinese 貴霜／贵霜 (Guìshuāng) (compare Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit guṣāṇa). Doublet of Kushana. The conventional name Kushan and the proposed connection with the Chinese term are due to Alexander Cunningham's Coins of the Indo-Scythians, Sakas & Kushans (1899).

Kushan · proper noun2

Borrowed from Mandarin 鼓山 (Gǔshān) Wade–Giles romanization: Ku³-shan¹.

Words from the same roots

Sanskritकुषाण all →

Kushana

BactrianΚοϸανο all →

Kushana

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.