noun
- an Indian Zoroastrian descended from Persian Zoroastrians who went to India in the 7th and 8th centuries to escape Muslim persecution.
- the Middle Persian dialect of the Parsee scriptures.
noun
- an adherent of a monotheistic religion of Zoroastrian origin, the practitioners of which were driven out of Persia by the Muslims in the eighth century ad . It is now found chiefly in western India
adjective
- of or relating to the Parsees or their religion
n.1610s, descendant of Zoroastrians who fled to India 7c.-8c. after Muslim conquest of Persia, from Old Persian parsi “Persian” (see Persian). In Middle English, Parsees meant “Persians.”