Pathan
noun/pəˈtɑːn/
Etymology Borrowed from Hindustani پٹھان / पठान (paṭhān). Doublet of Pashtun.
1
British, India, South Asia Synonym of Pashtun; a member of the Pashto-speaking people of today’s north-west Pakistan and south-east Afghanistan.
- After long deliberation about the choice of nations, I became a “Pathán.”1855, Sir Richard Burton, Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Meccah, Dover, published 1964, pages 44–5:
- The 57-mile line from Jesselton to Beaufort was a more substantial undertaking than that from Weston, and a contract was given to the firm of George Pauling & Company, which brought many Pathans, veterans of railway building in India, to tackle the job.1958 November 23, M. H. Baker, “The North Borneo Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 783: