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• Afghan
  Afghan

  noun

  a native or inhabitant of Afghanistan.
• afghan
  afghan

  noun

  a knitted or crocheted wool blanket or shawl, esp one with a geometric pattern

Afghan

American  

[af-gan, -guhn] / ˈæf gæn, -gən /

noun

• Afghans
  plural

1. a native or inhabitant of Afghanistan.

2. afghan, a soft woolen blanket, crocheted or knitted, usually in a geometric pattern.

3. Also called Afghan hound. one of a breed of swift hunting hounds having a long, narrow head and a long, silky coat.

4. Literary. Pashto.

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adjective

1. of Afghanistan or its people or language.

Afghan ¹ British  

/ ˈæfɡæn, -ɡən, -ˈɡɑː- /

noun

1. a native, citizen, or inhabitant of Afghanistan

2. another name for Pashto

3. history an Indian camel driver employed in the outback of Australia

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adjective

1. denoting or relating to Afghanistan, its people, or their language

afghan ² British  

/ ˈæfɡæn, -ɡən /

noun

1. a knitted or crocheted wool blanket or shawl, esp one with a geometric pattern

2. a sheepskin coat, often embroidered and having long fur trimming around the edges

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Usage

See afghani.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• Afghans
  plural

Etymology

Origin of Afghan

First recorded in 1740–50; from Persian afghān “inhabitant of the Hindu Kush; a Pathan“

Explanation

An afghan is a knitted or crocheted blanket. You might spend Friday night curled up on the couch under an afghan watching old movies on TV. Many afghans are made from individual crocheted squares — called "granny squares" — stitched together into one big, multicolored blanket. Other afghans are striped or composed of large blocks of color. The connection of the name afghan with the people or country of Afghanistan is unclear, though some crochet and knitting fans believe that the original afghans, first made in the 1800s, were influenced by multi-colored blankets from that country.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Afghan afghan Afghans

The BBC's Afghan service has been operating since 1981.

From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026

When the U.S. finished pulling out of Afghanistan in the summer of 2021, it imperiled the lives of every Afghan who had helped, including the Institute of Peace’s local staff and their families.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026

In Paktia, an official said jets had bombed the Afghan Armed Forces' 203 Mansouri Corps, which is controlled by the Taliban, without providing any information on casualties.

From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026

Giustozzi said multiple countries have been putting pressure on the Afghan government, which has been making an effort to "restrain" the TTP.

From Barron's

He peered around the cozy space, covered with red and black carpets and paintings of the Afghan countryside.

From "Shooting Kabul" by N. H. Senzai

Gilbert: The couch and afghan, along with the entire main kitchen and living room set are in Carsey Werner’s storage.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 9, 2025

Among those items is a yellow afghan blanket her great-grandmother knitted and “has always been on my bed,” she said.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 24, 2022

Since September, Minnesota has welcomed 721 afghan evacuees according to the Minnesota Department of Human Services.

From Fox News ● Jan. 20, 2022

I wrote early on in that essay, trying to conjure the first moment I ever saw one as an infant — my parent's afghan hound, Easy.

From Salon ● Jul. 25, 2021

She does this, not in her bedroom, but on the chesterfield in the living room, stretched out with her shoes off and a knitted afghan covering her.

From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood

The council deplored the suffering of Afghans and voiced deep concern about deeply entrenched impunity in the country.

From Barron's ● Oct. 5, 2026

Since 2023, hundreds of thousands of Afghans have been deported from Pakistan and over two million have left according to the UN.

From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026

The victims, aged between 7 and 46, were mostly Iraqi Kurds, but also included Afghans, Ethiopians and Egyptians.

From Barron's ● Sep. 8, 2026

News organizations, nonprofits and veterans scrambled to evacuate the Afghans who had helped them over the course of America’s longest war.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026

Every home has a poet and every home has a musician because words and music give Afghans life.

From "The Sky at Our Feet" by Nadia Hashimi