پیش

See also: بئش, بیس, بيس, تیس, and بئس

Persian

Etymology

Inherited from Middle Persian [Book Pahlavi needed] (pyš /⁠pēš⁠/, “before, pre-, past, beside”), of unclear further origin. Multiple theories have been proposed:

• Horn takes the word as a derivative of Old Persian [script needed] (patiš, “against”), from Proto-Iranian *pati- (“against”), itself from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“in front; first”); this is rejected by Hubschmann.
• Nyberg considers the word as a southwestern dialectal form of Old Persian [script needed] (paišiyā, “in front, before”); however, he does not elaborate further.
• Gershevitch derives the word from Proto-Iranian *pasya-, from Proto-Iranian *pas- (“to observe, look”) (with phonetic assimilation of *sy- to š-, ala the shift from Proto-Iranian *kacyápah (“tortoise, turtle”) to Persian کشف (kašaf, “tortoise, turtle”)), from Proto-Indo-European *speḱ- (“to see, look, observe”).
• Most likely, according to Edelman, is a derivation from an earlier Proto-Iranian *pati-aši- (“before or against one's eyes”), from Proto-Iranian *pati- (“against”) + *Háši (“eye”), the latter from Proto-Indo-Iranian *Hákši (“eye”). This would make the word an exact cognate with Sanskrit प्रत्यक्ष (pratyakṣa, “present before the eyes, obvious, clear”).

Pronunciation

Dari	پیش
Iranian Persian
Tajik	пеш

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): [peːʃ]

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [pʰeːʃ]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [pʰeːʃ]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [pʰeːʃ]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [pʰeːʃ]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [pʰiːʃ]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [pʰeʃ]

Readings
Classical reading?	pēš
Dari reading?	pēš
Iranian reading?	piš
Tajik reading?	peš

Noun

پیش • (piš)

1. front part

   Antonyms: پس (pas), پشت (pošt)

2. (with ezâfe) in front of, before

   پیش شاهنشاه ― piš-e šâhenšâh ― before the king; in front of the king

Adjective

پیش • (piš)

1. ago, before, past

   پنج ساعت پیش ― panj sâ'at-e piš ― five hours ago

   هفته پیش ― hafte-ye piš ― last week

2. of the past

Adverb

پیش • (piš)

1. before, previously

   از مدت‌ها پیش ― az moddat-hâ piš ― from a long time ago

2. in advance
3. (of movement) forward, ahead

Derived terms

• از پیش (az piš, “from old”)
• پیش آمدن (piš âmadan, “to happen, to come up”)
• پیش آوردن (piš âvordan, “to put forth”)
• پیش از (piš az, “before”)
• پیش افتادن (piš oftâdan, “to outrun”)
• پیش بردن (piš bordan, “to win”)
• پیش رفتن (piš raftan, “to progress”)
• پیش کشیدن (piš kešidan, “to take up”)
• پیش گرفتن (piš gereftan, “to set oneself to”)
• پیشانی (pišâni, “forehead”)
• پیشتخته (piš-taxte, “desk”)

Descendants

• → Azerbaijani: piş
• → Bengali: পেশ (peś)
• → Hindustani:

  Hindi: पेश (peś)

  Urdu: پیش (peś)

• → Northern Kurdish: pêş
• → Ottoman Turkish: پش (peş)
  • Turkish: peş
  • → Middle Armenian: փէշ (pʻēš)
    • Armenian: փեշ (pʻeš)
• → Punjabi:

  Gurmukhi script: ਪੇਸ਼ (peś)

  Shahmukhi script: پیش (peś)

• → Uzbek: pesh

Urdu

Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian پیش (pēš).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /peːʃ/
• Rhymes: -eːʃ

Adjective

پیش • (peś) (Hindi spelling पेश)

1. presented
2. in front

Noun

پیش • (peś) m (Hindi spelling पेश)

1. (linguistics) the damma diacritic

   Synonym: ضَمَّہ (zamma)