کاهو

Persian

Etymology

From Middle Persian [Book Pahlavi needed] (kʾhwk' /⁠kāhōk⁠/, “lettuce”),^[1] perhaps whence borrowings Mazanderani کاهوک (kâhuk), کاوک (kâuk), کهوک (kahuk, “lettuce”), ultimately of unknown origin.

Pronunciation

(Classical Persian) IPA^(key): /kaː.ˈhuː/

(Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [kʰɑː.ɦúː]
- (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [kʰɑː.wúː]
- (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [kʰɔː.wú]

(Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [kʰɒː.ɦúː]

(Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [kʰɔ.ɦú]

Readings
Classical reading^?	kāhū
Dari reading^?	kāhū
Iranian reading^?	kâhu
Tajik reading^?	kohu

Noun

کاهو • (kāhū / kâhu) (Tajik spelling коҳу)

lettuce (Lactuca sativa)

Descendants

→ Bashkardi:
Minabi: کاهو (kâhu)
→ Kermanic: kāhū, kāū, kāvū
→ Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: کاهوو (kahû)
→ Mazanderani: کهو (kahu)
→ Pashto: کاهو (kâhu)
→ Shahrudi: کاو (kâu)

References

^ Asatrian, Garnik (2011), “kāhū”, in A Comparative Vocabulary of Central Iranian Dialects‎^[1] (in Persian), Tehran: Safir Ardehal Publications, page 220

Hayyim, Sulayman (1934), “کاهو”, in New Persian–English dictionary, Teheran: Librairie-imprimerie Béroukhim
Dehkhoda, Ali-Akbar (1931–), “کاهو”, in Dehkhoda Dictionary Institute, editors, Dehkhoda Dictionary (in Persian), Tehran: University of Tehran Press
“کاهو”, in Вожаҷӯ / واژه‌جو [Vožajü] (in Tajik), 2025

[1] Asatrian, Garnik (2011), “kāhū”, in A Comparative Vocabulary of Central Iranian Dialects‎^[1] (in Persian), Tehran: Safir Ardehal Publications, page 220

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