Pakhton.adj.

1784 H. Vansittart Let. 3 Mar. in Asiatick Researches (1791) 2 68 I also submit a specimen of their language, which is called by them Pukhto; but this word is softened in Persian into Pushto.

1873 Amer. Cycl. I. 163/1 The inhabitants call themselves Pushtaneh or Pukhtaneh, according to the two main dialects of their language, the Pukhtu and Pushtu, which are spoken in different parts of the country.

1878 R. N. Cust Sketch Mod. Lang. E. Indies 29 The Pushtu, or Pakhtu, is the Language of the Afghans or Putáns.

1977 K. Katzner Langs. of World (U.K. ed.) ii. 169 For those parts of Pakistan where the ‘hard’ kh and gh prevail, the language is generally referred to as Pakhto.

1997 Los Angeles Times (Nexis) 23 Jan. h10 Dolha/Joseph..spoke only Pakhto and Urdu to begin with.

1861 Jrnl. Amer. Oriental Soc. 7 p. x Capt. Raverty calls the Society's attention to the series of works on the Afghan, Pukhto, or Pushto language.

1956 P. S. Jones Afghanistan Venture 436 The Pakhto word for river is ‘Sindh’, from which comes ‘Hindu’ and ‘India’.

1981 Jrnl. Asian Stud. 41 79 A Pukhto proverb warns: ‘When buffaloes fight, the frogs underneath are squashed.’ So it is with the Afghans caught, as they see it, between big power rivalry.

2001 Hull Daily Mail 4 Oct. 9 Before this year ‘Amn’, which was written..by Pir Gohar in the Pukhto language, had only been translated into Arabic.