شست

Persian

Etymology

Clipping of انگشت شست (angošt-e šast, literally “thumb's finger”)

Pronunciation

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

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [ʃäst̪]

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

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [ʃæst̪]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [ʃäst̪]

Readings
Classical reading?	šast
Dari reading?	šast
Iranian reading?	šast
Tajik reading?	šast

Noun

Dari	شست
Iranian Persian
Tajik	шаст

شست • (šast) (plural شست‌ها (šast-hâ))

1. thumb
2. fish-hook, snare
3. thumbstall
   • c. 1260s, Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Rūmī, translated by Reynold A. Nicholson, مثنوی معنوی [Masnavi-ye-Ma'navi], volume III, verse 3375:

     گفت تیری جست از شست ای پسر
     نیست سنت کید آن واپس به سر

     guft tīr-ē jast az šast ay pesar
     nist sunnat k-ayad ān wāpas ba sar

     He (Moses) said, “An arrow sped from the (archer's) 'thumb-stall, my lad:
     ’tis not the rule that it should come back to the source

Descendants

• → Gujarati: શિસ્ત (śist)
• → Kannada: ಶಿಸ್ತು (śistu)
• → Konkani:

  Devanagari script: शिस्त (śista)

  Latin script: xist

• → Marathi:

  Devanagari script: शिस्त (śista)

  Modi script: 𑘫𑘲𑘭𑘿𑘝 (śīsta)

References

• Hayyim, Sulayman (1934) “شست”, in New Persian–English dictionary, Teheran: Librairie-imprimerie Béroukhim