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Indo-Iranian

Indo-Iranian

8.7
A group of languages like Hindi, Urdu, Farsi and Sanskrit from the Indo-European family
  • noun
  • /ˌɪndoʊ aɪˈrænɪən/
  • Specialized
translation icon : indoiraní
  • You see, Afghanistan is a mostly Indo-Iranian territory, and that group of people tends towards mysticism (vis-a-vis Hinduism).

Examples

  • Indo-Iranian languages make up a major branch of the Indo-Iranian family.

  • Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages.

  • The Indo-Iranian language group constitutes the easternmost extant branch of the Indo-European family of languages.

Synonyms

Indo-Iranian language
vsIndo-Iranian
  • Specialized
8.2

A branch of Indo-European languages that includes Sanskrit and Persian

has identical meaning but uses a shorter label without the extra noun

Surface Forms

Indo-Iranian singular
Indo-Iranians plural

Morphology

Indo-Iranian = Indian + Iranian (transparent) = Indo + Iranian

Formed by the clear combination of Indo- (relating to India/Indian) and Iranian, so learners familiar with those names can infer it denotes a grouping related to India and Iran.

Etymology

Indo-Iranian joins Indo ('India') and Iranian ('Iran') as a simple name for languages from those areas. So, Indo-Iranian refers to the group of related languages that includes Hindi, Urdu, Farsi and Kurdish.