/ˈkʊʃ.i/·adjective·c. 1915 in widespread written attestation during World War I, though oral use among Anglo-Indian military personnel likely dates to the 1880s–1890s during the British Raj; the earliest print citations appear in soldiers' letters and trench journalism from the Western Front·Established
Origin
Cushy travelled from Persian khush (pleasant) through Hindi-Urdu khushī into British Indian Army slang, then exploded into mainstream English via the trenches of World War I, where a 'cushy wound' meant a ticket home.
Definition
Describing a situation, job, or position that is easy, comfortable, or requiring little effort, borrowed into British English from Hindustani khushī (pleasure, happiness), itself from Persian khush (pleasant, happy), and popularised by British soldiers serving in India during the 19th century.
The Full Story
Hindi/Urdu via Persian19th–early 20th centurywell-attested
The English word 'cushy' meaning 'easy, comfortable, involving little effort' most likely derives from Hindi/Urdu khushī (खुशी, 'pleasure, happiness, delight') or directly from Persian khush (خوش, 'pleasant, happy, agreeable'). The Persian root is the ultimate source, as Hindi/Urdu borrowed khushī from Persian during centuries of Mughal and earlier Persianate cultural influence on the Indian subcontinent. The word entered English throughtwo plausible but debated transmission vectors. The dominant theory holds that British soldiers
Did you know?
During WWI, soldiers actively prayed for a 'cushy one' — a woundbad enough for hospital evacuation but not fatal or crippling. The term became so common that medical officers started using it in triagenotes. The dark irony: a word born from the Persian concept of happiness and pleasure became trench shorthand for the optimistic mathematics of getting
may have encountered it through contact with Romani-speaking communities in Britain. The word gained wide currency during World War I (1914–1918), when soldiers used 'cushy' to describe wounds minor enough to earn a trip home ('a cushy one') or assignments behind the front lines. By the interwar period it had entered general British English, losing its explicitly military flavour while retaining the core sense of 'easy, comfortable, requiring little effort'. The Persian origin is not seriously disputed; what remains debated is whether the primary conduit was Hindi/Urdu via the Raj, Romani via domestic contact, or a convergence of both channels reinforcing the same borrowed root. Key roots: khush (خوش) (Persian: "pleasant, happy, agreeable"), *huxša- (Middle Persian (Pahlavi): "good, pleasant"), khushī (खुशी) (Hindi/Urdu (from Persian): "pleasure, happiness, delight").