Persian

adj.
Of or relating to Persia or Iran, or to their peoples, languages, or cultures.

n.

1. A native or inhabitant of Persia or Iran.
2. Any of the western Iranian dialects or languages of ancient or medieval Persia and modern Iran.

A telamon, esp. one portrayed in Persian dress.

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An Indo-European language related to English, Sanskrit, Kurdish, and Pashto.

Modern Persian arose about the ninth century C.E. It is the national language of Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan. It is known generally and in Iran as Farsi; in Afghanistan, as Dari; and in Tajikistan, as Tajiki. It has exerted great influence on the Indian sub-continent and in Ottoman Turkey.

Persian has twenty-three consonants and six vowels. It has two consonants lacking in English: gh (similar to the French r) and kh (similar to the ch in the German Buch). It lacks the th sounds (as in thin and this); the consonant w; the vowels in bit, but, and put; and syllable-initial consonant clusters (as in strip). It has neither gender, articles, nor number agreement.

Persian uses a slightly modified Arabic script, written from right to left (except for the numerals). There are seven diacriticals (three seldom used). Seven letters cannot join each other or any following letter. Under Soviet rule, Tajiki briefly used the Latin script, then switched to the Cyrillic. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, there has been a movement for the return to the Arabic script. The Persian script's main features are inconsistent representation of certain vowels and alternative spellings of some consonants and vowels. These and other features, causing problems in reading and writing, have since the nineteenth century led some Iranians to advocate the adoption of Latin or some other script.

Persian has changed little in the last thousand years or so: a person who knows Persian can understand tenth-century Persian (except for a few words and phrases). Persian includes an extensive Arabic element, the language of Islam, and was for a time the language of science and scholarship for all Muslims. There are also a number of Turkish and Mongolian loanwords, reflecting Turkish and Mongol rule in Iran. Growing contacts with Europe since the nineteenth century have led to extensive borrowings from French and, since World War II, from English. Greek, Aramaic, and Indian languages also account for a few words. In its turn, Persian is the source of some words in Arabic, large numbers in Turkish and Urdu, and smaller numbers in Western and other languages. Most of these words have found their way into Western languages through classical Greek, Latin, Arabic, and Spanish (for example, the English tulip, narcissus, khaki, orange, sugar, julep, jasmine, pajamas, magic, arsenic, and cushy, and the names Cyrus and Roxanne).

Bibliography

Jazayery, Mohammad Ali. "Western Loanwords in Persian, with Reference to Westernization." Islamic Culture 40 (1966):207 - 220 and 41 (1967):1 - 19. London: K. Paul, 1935.

Windfuhr, Gernot L. "Persian." In The World's Major Languages, edited by Bernard Comrie. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987.

— M. A. JAZAYERY

Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has 2 meanings:

Meaning #1: a native or inhabitant of Iran
  Synonyms: Irani, Iranian

Meaning #2: the language of Persia (Iran) in any of its ancient forms
  Synonym: Farsi

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The adjective Persian has one meaning:

Meaning #1: of or relating to Iran or its people or language or culture
  Synonym: Iranian

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - perser, iraner
adj. - persisk

idioms:

• persian cat    perserkat
• persian lamb    persianer

Nederlands (Dutch)
Perzisch, Pers

Français (French)
n. - (Ling) persan, Perse, Persan
adj. - persan, perse

idioms:

• persian cat    chat persan
• persian lamb    astrakan

Deutsch (German)
n. - Perser
adj. - persisch

idioms:

• persian cat    Perserkatze
• persian lamb    Persianer

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - Πέρσης, περσική (γλώσσα)
adj. - περσικός, Πέρσης

idioms:

• persian cat    περσική γάτα
• persian lamb    αστραχάν

Italiano (Italian)
persiano

idioms:

• persian cat    gatto persiano
• persian lamb    agnello persiano

Português (Portuguese)
n., -
adj. - persa

idioms:

• persian cat    gato persa
• persian lamb    cordeiro persa

Русский (Russian)
персидский

idioms:

• persian cat    персидский кот
• persian lamb    каракулевый ягненок

Español (Spanish)
n. - persa
adj. - persa, de Persia

idioms:

• persian cat    gato de Angora
• persian lamb    cordero caracul

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - perser
adj. - persisk

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
波斯人, 波斯语, 波斯的, 波斯语的, 波斯人的

idioms:

• persian cat    波斯猫
• persian lamb    波斯羔羊, 波斯羔羊之毛皮

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 波斯人, 波斯語
adj. - 波斯的, 波斯語的, 波斯人的

idioms:

• persian cat    波斯貓
• persian lamb    波斯羔羊, 波斯羔羊之毛皮

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 페르시아 사람, 페르시아 말
adj. - 페르시아의, 페르시아 사람의

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - ペルシャ人
adj. - ペルシャの, ペルシャ人の

idioms:

• persian cat    ペルシャ猫, ペルシア猫
• persian lamb    ペルシア子羊

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) أحد أبناء بلاد فارس, أو غيران, متعلق باللغه الفارسيه (صفه) فارسي, إيراني, الفارسيه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮פרסית (שפה), פרסי/ה‬
adj. - ‮פרסי/ת, של אירן‬

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persian	persian coins
Persian Music	persian egg