Pashtun people (Pashto: پښتانه‎ Pax̌tānə; also spelled Pushtun, Pakhtun or Pukhtun), also known as ethnic Afghans (Persian: افغان‎) or Pathans (Urdu: پٹھان‎, Hindi: पठान Paṭhān), are an Iranic ethnic group belonging to Afghanistan and Pakistan. They are typically characterised by the usage of the Eastern Iranian Pashto language and practice of Pashtunwali, which is a traditional set of ethics guiding individual and communal conduct. Their origins are unclear but historians have come across references to various ancient peoples called Pakthas (Pactyans) between the 2nd and the 1st millennium BC, inhabiting the region between the Hindu Kush and Indus River, who may be the early ancestors of the Pashtun people. Since the 3rd century AD onward, they have been referred to by the ethnonym "Afghan".