معاش

• IPA^(key): /ma.ʕaːʃ/
• Rhymes: -aːʃ

مَعَاش • (maʕāš) m

1. verbal noun of عَاشَ (ʕāša) (form I)
2. livelihood, subsistence
   • 1377, Ibn Khaldun, edited by Khalīl Shaḥādah, تاريخ ابن خلدون, 1st edition, volume 1, Beirut, Lebanon: Dār al-Fikr, published 1981, page 727:

     وَأَكْثَرُ مَا يَحْمِلُ عَلَى ٱلْتِمَاسِ هٰذِهِ الصِّنَاعَةِ وَٱنْتِحَالِهَا هُوَ كَمَا قُلْنَاهُ الْعَجْزُ عَنِ الطُّرُقِ الطَّبِيعِيَّةِ لِلْمَعَاشِ وَٱبْتِغَاؤُهُ مِنْ غَيْرِ وُجُوهِهِ الطَّبِيعِيَّةِ كَٱلْفِلَاحَةِ وَٱلتِّجَارَةِ وَٱلصِّنَاعَةِ فَيَسْتَصْعِبُ الْعَاجِزُ ٱبْتِغَاءَهُ مِنْ هٰذِهِ وَيَرُومُ الْحُصُولَ عَلَى الْكَثِيرِ مِنَ الْمَالِ دُفْعَةً بِوُجُوهٍ غَيْرِ طَبِيعِيَّةٍ مِنَ الْكِيمِيَاءِ وَغَيْرِهَا.

     waʔakṯaru mā yaḥmilu ʕalā ltimāsi hāḏihi ṣ-ṣināʕati wantiḥālihā huwa kamā qulnāhu l-ʕajzu ʕani ṭ-ṭuruqi ṭ-ṭabīʕiyyati lilmaʕāši wabtiḡāʔuhu min ḡayri wujūhihi ṭ-ṭabīʕiyyati kal-filāḥati wat-tijārati waṣ-ṣināʕati fayastaṣʕibu l-ʕājizu btiḡāʔahu min hāḏihi wayarūmu l-ḥuṣūla ʕalā l-kaṯīri mina l-māli dufʕatan biwujūhin ḡayri ṭabīʕiyyatin mina l-kīmiyāʔi waḡayrihā.

     The most common cause of the desire to practice alchemy is, as we have stated; a person’s inability to make his living in a natural way and the wish to make a living in some way that, unlike agriculture, commerce, and (handi)craft, is not natural. A person without ability finds it difficult to make his living in such (legitimate occupations). He wants to get rich all at once through some (occupation) that is not natural, such as alchemy and other things.

     Translated by Franz Rosenthal

3. (post-Classical) salary

   Synonym: رَاتِب (rātib)

Borrowed from Arabic مَعَاش (maʕāš), from عَاشَ (ʕāša).

معاش • (maaş) (definite accusative معاشی (maaşı), plural معاشات (maaşat) or معائش (maaiş))

1. salary, pension, or other source of income; living
   • 1922 July 5, “مامورین معاشی [Civil servants' pay]”, in Tercüman-ı Hakikat, page 1:

     مالیه نظارتی مامورین معاشاتنك اعطاسی ایچون اعظمی نعالیت صرف ایتمكده‌در.

     Maliye Nezareti memurin maaşatının i'tası için azami faaliyet sarfetmektedir.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• Turkish: maaş
• → Laz: მააში (maaşi)

• Redhouse, James W. (1890), “معاش”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎^[1], Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 1896

Borrowed from Arabic مَعَاش (maʕāš), from عَاشَ (ʕāša).

معاش • (ma'āš / ma'âš) (Tajik spelling маош)

1. wage, income, salary
2. livelihood, subsistence, means of living

• Tajik: маош (maoš)
• → Chagatai:
  • Uyghur: مائاش (ma'ash), مۇئاش (mu'ash)
  • Uzbek: maosh
• → Hindustani:

  Urdu: مَعَاش (ma'āś)

• → Pashto: معاش (ma'āš)
• → Turkmen: مۇئاش

• Bulkin, Carleton (2012), “معاش”, in Dari-English/English-Dari practical dictionary, 2nd edition, New York: Hippocrene Books, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 337
• Steingass, Francis Joseph (1892), “معاش”, in A Comprehensive Persian–English dictionary, London: Routledge & K. Paul
• Hayyim, Sulayman (1934), “معاش”, in New Persian–English dictionary, Teheran: Librairie-imprimerie Béroukhim
• “معاش”, in قاموس کبیر افغانستان [qāmūs-i kabīr-i afġānistān, The Great Dictionary of Afghanistan] (in Persian), Afghan Dictionary, 2023

Borrowed from Classical Persian مَعَاش (ma'āš), borrowed from Arabic مَعَاش (maʕāš), from عَاشَ (ʕāša).

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /mə.(ʔ)ɑːʃ/

مَعاش • (ma'āš) f (Hindi spelling मआश)

1. economy
2. livelihood, subsistence, living

• “معاش”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.
• “معاش”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2025.