Hindu Kush

American  

[hin-doo koosh, kuhsh] / ˈhɪn du ˈkʊʃ, ˈkʌʃ /

noun

1. the Hindu Kush, a mountain range in southern Asia, mostly in northeastern Afghanistan, extending west from the Himalayas. Highest peak, Tirich Mir, 25,230 feet (7,690 meters).

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Hindu Kush British  

/ kuːʃ, kʊʃ /

plural noun

1. a mountain range in central Asia, extending about 800 km (500 miles) east from the Koh-i-Baba Mountains of central Afghanistan to the Pamirs. Highest peak: Tirich Mir, 7690 m (25 230 ft)

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Etymology

Origin of Hindu Kush

First recorded in 1820–30; possibly from Persian koš, a derivative of the verb koštan “to kill,” the phrase meaning “Hindu killer” (from when slaves being transported from the Indian subcontinent to Central Asia died in the harsh climate of these mountains); possibly from Persian ‎ Hindūkuš, Hendukoš “Mountains of the Indus / of India,” which, in some 19th-century reports was also interpreted in a popular etymology as a compound of Hendu and koš “Hindu-slayer”

Example Sentences

Eventually he launched a successful import-export clothing business, Hindu Kush, though he ended up having to smuggle the goods into America as geopolitics shifted.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 12, 2025

Earthquakes are common in the country, particularly along the Hindu Kush mountain range, near where the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates meet.

From Barron's • Nov. 2, 2025

An estimated 90,000+ glaciers of the Himalayas, Karakorum and Hindu Kush mountains are currently at risk of reaching the tipping point, threatening the nearly 870 million people that rely on them.

From Science Daily • Oct. 25, 2023

Afghanistan is frequently hit by earthquakes, especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range, as it lies near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.

From BBC • Oct. 15, 2023

Beyond the village, beyond the river and the streams, Laila saw foothills, bare and dusty brown, and, beyond those, as beyond everything else in Afghanistan, the snowcapped Hindu Kush.

From "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini