پوچ

See also: بوح and بوچ

Persian

Etymology

Uncertain. The word does not occur in Middle Persian, but does, possibly, occur in Dēnkard, a 10th-century compendium, where it can be interpreted as "nihility". The word became widespread in Iranian varieties first in the XV-th century.

Possibly from the onomatopoetic Proto-Iranian *pū- (“to blow”), whence also Persian پوک (puk, “hollow”). Has been compared to Middle Persian [script needed] (pūdag, “foul, rotten”).

Compare, however, also Proto-Turkic *boĺ (“free, empty”).

Iranic cognates

Cognate with Northern Kurdish pûç, Gurani [script needed] (pūt), Shughni [script needed] (pūč), Sangisari [script needed] (pūč), Zazaki puç, Talysh püç (“empty”), possibly also dialectal Talysh poş (“empty”) (unless the latter is from Azerbaijani boş).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [pʰuːt͡ʃ]

Adjective

پوچ • (puč)

1. empty, vacant
2. injudicious, ignorant, absurd

Derived terms

• پوچی (puči)

Descendants

• → Armenian: փուչ (pʻučʻ)
• → Azerbaijani: puç
• → Georgian: ფუჭი (puč̣i)

Further reading

• Steingass, Francis Joseph (1892) “پوچ”, in A Comprehensive Persian–English dictionary, London: Routledge & K. Paul