From Middle Persian npštn' (nibištan, “to write”), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *ní (“downwards, into”) + Middle Persian *pištan-, the latter from Old Persian *pi⁽ⁿ⁾θ-, from Proto-Iranian *pais- (“to adorn, paint, write”), from Proto-Indo-European *peyḱ- (“to cut out; to stitch; to paint, mark”). Doublet of نِبی (nibī, “scripture”), and cognate with Russian написать (napisatʹ, “to write”) and English paint, picture.