Fereshteh or Ferishteh or Freshteh or Freshte, ''fereshteh/fereshtah'') is a feminine given name of Persian origin meaning
angel
An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...
, one of the most popular names in the Persian-speaking world. It is also
transliterated
Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one writing system, script to another that involves swapping Letter (alphabet), letters (thus ''wikt:trans-#Prefix, trans-'' + ''wikt:littera#Latin, liter-'') in predictable ways, such as ...
as Freshteh or Fereshta or Farishta or Freshta in other languages like Hindi, Urdu, Bengali and Dari along with Persian.
The etymology of the word is traced to
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
preṣyatā प्रेष्यता and
Avestan
Avestan ( ) is the liturgical language of Zoroastrianism. It belongs to the Iranian languages, Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family and was First language, originally spoken during the Avestan period, Old ...
fraēšta-, messenger which led to Persian فرشته • ferešte.
For phonological reasons, it is usually transcribed as Fereshtah or Freshte in the Persian spoken in Afghanistan and Tajikistan.
People
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Firishta
Firishta or Ferešte (), full name Muhammad Qasim Hindu Shah Astarabadi (), was a Persian historian, who later settled in India and served the Deccan Sultans as their court historian. He was born in 1570 and died between 1611 and 1623.
Life
F ...
(1560-1620), (male) Persian historian
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Fereshteh Jenabi (1948-1998), Iranian actress
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Fereshta Kazemi (born 1979), Afghan–American film actress
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Fereshta Ludin, German teacher of Afghan descent.
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Fereshteh Ghazi
Fereshteh Ghazi is an Iranian journalist and human rights activist.
In 2004 she worked for the newspaper Etemad. She is well known for the coverage of Zahra Kazemi's murder in Evin prison. She was herself arrested and imprisoned on two occasions i ...
, Iranian journalist
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Fereshteh Molavi (born 1953), Iranian-Canadian fiction writer and essayist
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Fereshteh Sadre Orafaee (born 1962), Iranian actress
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Fereshteh Taerpour (born 1953), Iranian film producer
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Fereshteh Forough Afghan computer scientist
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Freshta Kohistani, Afghan rights activist
Places
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Fereshteh Jan, village in Juyom Rural District, Juyom District, Larestan County, Fars Province, Iran
Film
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Farishta (1958 film)
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Farishta (2023 film)
Notes
{{given name
Persian feminine given names
Feminine given names