A dialectal word, recorded also as Middle Armenian պզտի (pzti), պզտիկ (pztik), պզտկիկ (pztkik). As an affectionate colloquial term has developed many alternative forms. Ačaṙean explains the development of ս (s) to զ (z) by the late pronunciation of պ (p) and տ (t) as /b/ and /d/. The origin is uncertain. Ačaṙean derives from *պստ- (*pst-) + -իկ (-ik), comparing the first to Persian پست (past, “low; abject, ignoble”) as an Iranian borrowing. Earlier he also compared Chagatai پستك (pestek, “short, low”). Alternatively, perhaps derived from Proto-Indo-European *pstḗn (“breast”), by the sense development “suckling, nursling” → “small child” → “small”, either as an inheritance or a borrowing from the Iranian cognate: compare from that root Sanglechi štənōk (“new-born kid”) from *fštanya-ka-, Persian پستان (pestân, “breast”), and possibly Old Armenian սան (san, “nursling”). Compare also Northern Kurdish pitik (“suckling”).