yasht means any of a collection of hymns and prayers. It carries an Arena rating of 1443, earned across 9 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, yasht ranks #3,924 of 12,802 for Most Beautiful Words, #4,901 of 12,802 for The Improbable, #5,358 of 12,802 for Most Sublime Words, #8,675 of 12,802 for Most Ponderous Words.
yasht is pronounced /jæʃt/.
Why “yasht” is a great word
A specific liturgical hymn from the Zoroastrian canon, formally structured for the veneration of a divine entity. Its lineage traces from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₁yaǵ- ('to worship'), through the Avestan verb yaz ('to honor'), yielding the noun yašta ('honored'), and crystallizing in Middle Persian as yašt ('prayer, worship'). Unlike a general 'hymn' of praise or a personal 'prayer' of supplication, a yasht is a prescribed devotional text, a fixed constellation of words meant to invoke a specific yazata. It is the scent of sandalwood rising before a sacred fire, the resonant warmth of a low chant in a stone chamber, and the precise, memorized words passing from one generation’s lips to the next—a testament to the human insistence on giving honor a permanent shape.
Etymology
From Middle Persian yšt' (yašt, “prayer, worship”), probably from Avestan 𐬫𐬀𐬱𐬙𐬀 (yašta, “honored”), from 𐬫𐬀𐬰 (yaz, “to worship, honor”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁yaǵ-.
noun
- Any of a collection of hymns and prayers.
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- yazata 84% match — A divinity.
- gatha 83% match — A poem or mantra, especially one recited mentally as part of meditation or mindfulness practice.
- zarathustrianism 80% match — Zoroaster's own doctrines as distinguished from later accretions (Zarathustricism, Zoroastrianism).
- vrata 79% match — A pious observance such as fasting and pilgrimage.
- norito 79% match — A liturgical text or ritual incantation in Shinto, usually addressed to a specific kami.
- daeva 79% match — A supernatural entity of disagreeable nature, usually considered as a demon.
- shakha 79% match — Either a school of the Vedas, or the traditional texts followed by a school.
- gayatri 79% match — an ancient metre of twenty-four syllables (variously arranged, but generally as a triplet of eight syllables each), any hymn composed in the गायत्री metre RV. x, 14 ; 16 & 130, 4 VS. AV. etc.