Proto-West-Caucasian: *pǝ-č́ʷaχʷa ?
Meaning: sand
Adyghe: pšāχwa
Kabardian: pšāχwa
Comments: PAK *pčaχʷá. The word presents several difficulties (see Шагиров 2, 27). It was borrowed into Abaz. in the form pχačaqʷa - however, Shagirov is probably right in thinking that the AK word had been reinterpreted in Abaz. as pχača 'coarse-grained' (also an AK loan) + qʷa 'ashes'. Circassian pχa(r)šāχʷa 'sand' is in this case a back-loan from Abaz. Ubykh pšāχʷa 'sand' is also most probably a recent Ad. loanword. Further etymology of PAK *pčaχʷá is not clear.