Pashto

For other uses, see Pashto (disambiguation).

Pashto
پښتو Pax̌tó
The word Pax̌tó written in the Pashto alphabet
Pronunciation	[pəʂˈto], [pʊxˈto], [pəçˈto], [pəʃˈto]
Native to	Afghanistan Pakistan
Ethnicity	Pashtuns
Speakers	L1: 51 million (2017–2023) L2: 4.9 million (2022)
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Iranian Southeastern Pashto
Standard forms	Central Pashto Northern Pashto Southern Pashto
Dialects	Pashto dialects
Writing system	Pashto alphabet
Official status
Official language in	Afghanistan
Regulated by	Academy of Sciences of Afghanistan Pashto Academy of Pakistan
Language codes
ISO 639-1	ps – Pashto, Pushto
ISO 639-2	pus – Pushto, Pashto
ISO 639-3	pus – inclusive code – Pashto, Pushto Individual codes: pst – Central Pashto pbu – Northern Pashto pbt – Southern Pashto
Glottolog	pash1269  Pashto
Linguasphere	58-ABD-a
Areas in Afghanistan and Pakistan where Pashto is:   the predominant language   spoken alongside other languages

Pashto (/ˈpʌʃtoʊ/,/ˈpæʃtoʊ/ PASH-toh; پښتو, Pəx̌tó, [pəʂˈto, pʊxˈto, pəʃˈto, pəçˈto]) is an Eastern Iranian language, belonging to the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It is one of the two official languages of Afghanistan. In historical Persian literature, it was also referred to as Afghani (افغانی, Afghāni).

Spoken as a native language mainly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official languages of Afghanistan alongside Dari, and the second-largest language in Pakistan, spoken mainly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the northern districts of Balochistan. Likewise, it is the primary language of the Pashtun diaspora around the world. The total number of Pashto speakers is estimated at around 35 million to 55 million. Pashto is "one of the primary markers of ethnic identity" amongst Pashtuns.