Other forms: shahs
A shah was the hereditary ruler of Iran. The last shah, the shah's court, exiled by the fall of the shah.
The title ended with the revolution of 1979 after some two and a half thousand years of Persian kingship. The same Persian word gives English both chess and check, since the game ends by trapping the king.
1nounshahThe former hereditary ruler of Iran.
“The shah left the country in January and never returned.”
shah is a ruler.
Persian shah comes from Old Persian xshayathiya, a king, and is the source of both check and chess.
Proto-Indo-European
*tek-
peo
𐏋
pal
𐭬𐭫𐭪𐭠
Persian
شاه
English, today
shah
Persian شاه, from pal 𐭬𐭫𐭪𐭠, from peo 𐏋. a doublet of check. More at chess.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA