# پرچم
## Persian
### Etymology

Early attestations in Persian include Anvārī and Khāqānī from the mid-1100s.
A Wanderwort of unknown origin, but probably immediately borrowed from Oghuz. The Arabic-Turkic dictionary Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk, written in 1074, gives [script needed] (berčem) as the Oghuz word for "the tail of a wild ox that warriors wear on the day of battle," with [script needed] (bečkem) as the Karakhanid equivalent. Compare Wakhi bičkám (“horse or goat tail”).
The original meaning is "hair on the yak-tail standard", identical to the Turkic meaning. For unclear reasons, this word was promoted over existing words for "flag," including both the Arabic loan علم (alam) and the native word درفش (derafš), during the early twentieth-century language purification reforms. It is now the most common word for "flag".

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Persian) IPA: [paɾ.ˈt͡ʃam]
* (Dari, formal) IPA: [pʰäɾ.t͡ʃʰǽm]
* (Dari, formal) IPA: [pʰäɾ.t͡ʃʰǽm]
** (Kabuli) IPA: [pʰäɾ.t͡ʃʰǽm]
** (Hazaragi) IPA: [pʰäɾ.t͡ʃʰǽm]
* (Iran, formal) IPA: [pʰæɹ.t͡ʃʰǽm]
* (Tajik, formal) IPA: [pʰäɾ.t͡ʃʰǽm]

### Noun

| Dari | پرچم |
| Iranian Persian | پرچم |
| Tajik | парчам |
پرچم • (parčam) (plural پرچم‌ها (parčam-hâ))
* flag; banner
    Synonyms: درفش (derafš), بیرق (beyraq), رایت (râyat), علم (alam), لوا (levâ)
    پرچم ایران ― parčam-e irân ― the Iranian flag, the flag of Iran
* (obsolete) yak or horse tail hair hung on the tuğ of nomadic armies
** c. 1180, Anvārī, “Qaṣīda 128”, in دیوان انوری‎:در کوکبهٔ تو طرهٔ شب بر نیزهٔ بندگانت پرچمdar kawkaba-yi tu turra-yi šab bar nēza-yi bandagān-at parčamIn your triumphal march, the ringlets of night's hair Are yak tails on the lances of your servants.(Classical Persian transliteration)
* (obsolete, figurative) lock of hair fluttering over the forehead

#### Descendants

* → Azerbaijani: pərçəm
* → Middle Hindi: پرچم (prcm /⁠parcam⁠/)
** Hindustani: parcam
    Hindi: परचम
    Urdu: پَرْچَم
* → Ottoman Turkish: پرچم (perçem)
** > Turkish: perçem (inherited)
** → Romanian: perciune

### References

* ↑ Doerfer, Gerhard (1963–1975) Türkische und mongolische Elemente im Neupersischen (Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur: Veröffentlichungen der Orientalischen Kommission)‎ (in German), Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag
* ↑ A. Shapur Shahbazi (January 31, 2012) “FLAGS i. Of Persia”, in Encyclopædia Iranica‎

## Urdu
### Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian پَرْچَم (parčam). First attested in c. 1510 as Middle Hindi پرچم (prcm /⁠parcam⁠/).

### Pronunciation

* (Standard Urdu) IPA: /pəɾ.t͡ʃəm/
* Rhymes: -əm
* Hyphenation: پَرْ‧چَم

### Noun

پَرْچَم • (parcam) m (Hindi spelling परचम)
* flag, banner
    Synonyms: جَھنْڈَا (jhanḍā), لَوَا (lavā)
    پرچم کشائی ― parcam kuśā'ī ― Flag hoisting

#### Declension

Declension of پرچم :
| | singular | plural |
| direct | پَرْچَم (parcam) | پَرْچَم (parcam) |
| oblique | پَرْچَم (parcam) | پَرْچَموں (parcamõ) |
| vocative | پَرْچَم (parcam) | پَرْچَمو (parcamo) |

### References

* ↑ Kuczkiewicz-Fraś, Agnieszka (2008) “parcam”, in Perso-Arabic Loanwords in Hindustani, Part 1 Dictionary, Kraków: Księgarnia Akademicka, →ISBN, page 675.
* ↑ “پرچم”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.

### Further reading

* “پرچم”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2024.
* Fallon, Platts, Qureshi, Shakespear (2024) “پرچم”, in Digital Dictionaries of South Asia