# پیش
## 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 | پیش |
| Tajik | пеш |
* (Classical Persian) IPA: [peːʃ]
* (Dari, formal) IPA: [pʰeːʃ]
* (Dari, formal) IPA: [pʰeːʃ]
** (Kabuli) IPA: [pʰeːʃ]
** (Hazaragi) IPA: [pʰeːʃ]
* (Iran, formal) IPA: [pʰiːʃ]
* (Tajik, formal) IPA: [pʰeʃ]

### Noun

پیش • (piš)
* front part
    Antonyms: پس (pas), پشت (pošt)
* (with ezâfe) in front of, before
    پیش شاهنشاه ― piš-e šâhenšâh ― before the king; in front of the king

### Adjective

پیش • (piš)
* ago, before, past
    پنج ساعت پیش ― panj sâ'at-e piš ― five hours ago
    هفته پیش ― hafte-ye piš ― last week
* of the past

### Adverb

پیش • (piš)
* before, previously
    از مدت‌ها پیش ― az moddat-hâ piš ― from a long time ago
* in advance
* (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

### References

* ↑ Edelʹman, D. I. (2020) Etimologičeskij slovarʹ iranskix jazykov [Etymological Dictionary of Iranian Languages] (in Russian), volume 6, Moscow: Vostochnaya Literatura, page 248
* ↑ Nyberg, H. S. (1974) “pērōz-kar”, in A Manual of Pahlavi, Part II: Glossary, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, page 161a
* ↑ MacKenzie, D. N. (1971) “pēš”, in A concise Pahlavi dictionary, London, New York, Toronto: Oxford University Press

## Urdu
### Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian پیش (pēš).

### Pronunciation

* (Standard Urdu) IPA: /peːʃ/
* Rhymes: -eːʃ

### Adjective

پیش • (peś) (Hindi spelling पेश)
* presented
* in front

### Noun

پیش • (peś) m (Hindi spelling पेश)
* (linguistics) the damma diacritic
    Synonym: ضَمَّہ (zamma)