Takhallus

In Persian, Kurdish, Pashto, Turkic, Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu), Kashmiri, Sindhi and Punjabi, the word takhallus (from Arabic: تخلّص, lit.'to get liberated or to become secure'; Persian: تخلّص, romanized: taxallus; Azerbaijani: təxəllüs; Uzbek: taxallus; Urdu: تخلّص, Hindi: तख़ल्लुस, Punjabi: Gurmukhi: ਤਖ਼ੱਲੁਸ, Shahmukhi:تخلّص) means a pen name. Pen names were widely adopted by Persian, Turkic, Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu) and Punjabi poets.

The takhallus is often included in the maqta', the last couplet (bayt) of a ghazal.