Jump To:

• 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.

---

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

---

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

---

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

More than 39,000 people arrived under the Afghan Resettlement Programme and in July 2025 the government confirmed the schemes were either closed to new applicants or discontinued.

From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026

But taxi drivers such as Roeen have started playing Afghan and regional folk or pop music, which they quickly turn off when security forces may be around.

From Barron's

“Nargis said she’d call us first thing if she learns anything. And Professor Sahib is headed to Jalalabad with his sons to search along the Afghan border.”

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

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

There was Peggy Foster, 82, an afghan over her shoulders, Ralph Lucas, 84, the only man in the group, and Jean Rose, 96, who kept surprising herself with the success of her rolls.

From New York Times ● Feb. 12, 2021

Then she wrapped her afghan around herself and bowed her head as if it were the lowering of a theater curtain.

From "Dead End in Norvelt" by Jack Gantos

The dead, including a child of seven, were mainly Iraqi Kurds but also included Afghans, Egyptians and Iranian Kurds.

From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026

The humanitarian situation has been further worsened by several natural disasters and the forced return of millions of Afghans from Iran and Pakistan since 2023.

From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026

It seemed that many of these newly arrived Afghans faced some level of PTSD.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026

Few voices call for absolute isolation, not when the United Nations warns that 22 million Afghans – nearly half the of the population – rely on some form of foreign assistance to help them survive.

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026

Baba and I had driven over the summit countless times on our way to Jalalabad, the city of cypress trees and sugarcane fields where Afghans vacationed in the winter.

From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini