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shah

shah

noun SHAH Rare

Origin: Persian shāh, 'king'

Also means

king (Persian)

Usage Note

Le shah (also spelled chah) is the title of the hereditary monarch of Persia/Iran, most famously the last ruling shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was deposed in the 1979 Iranian Revolution. In French, the word is invariable in form. The Persian word shāh also gives the chess term échec et mat (checkmate), from shāh māt ('the king is helpless').

Examples

"Le shah d'Iran fut renversé en 1979."

Natural Translation

The Shah of Iran was overthrown in 1979.

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