English
purdah
Purdah comes from Classical Persian پرده ‘curtain’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- ‘flat’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleh₂-‘flat’root as named · steps between not traced
- Classical Persianc. 900–presentپردهpardah‘curtain’
- Englishearliest quotation 1909purdah
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleh₂-‘flat’root as named · steps between not traced
- Classical Persianc. 900–presentپردهpardah‘curtain’
- Englishearliest quotation 1909purdah
Earliest quotation: 1909, Rudyard Kipling, A Wayside Comedy: “As she passed through the dining-room she heard, behind…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- ‘flat’
field, floor, explain, plane, explanation, plain, palm, clan, archipelago, explanatory, playa, fluke, placenta, planar, parma, palatine, esplanade, flounder, placate, plantar, implacable, pelagic, lech, flay, polonium, veld, llano, floe, planta, 49 more
Today it means
noun A curtain, especially one used in some Hindu or Muslim traditions to conceal women from the gaze of people, particularly men and strangers.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- / purdah