Persian

[pur-zhuhn, -shuhn]

adjective

1. of or relating to ancient and recent Persia (now Iran), its people, or their language.

noun

1. a member of the native peoples of Iran, descended in part from the ancient Iranians.

2. a citizen of ancient Persia.

3. an Iranian language, the principal language of Iran and western Afghanistan, in its historical and modern forms. Pers, Pers.

4. Architecture.,  a figure of a man used as a column.

5. Persians. Persian blinds.

Persian

/ ˈpɜːʃən /

adjective

1. of or relating to ancient Persia or modern Iran, their inhabitants, or their languages

noun

1. a native, citizen, or inhabitant of modern Iran; an Iranian

2. a member of an Indo-European people of West Iranian speech who established a great empire in SW Asia in the 6th century _bc

3. the language of Iran or Persia in any of its ancient or modern forms, belonging to the West Iranian branch of the Indo-European family See also Avestan Old Persian Pahlavi 2 Farsi

Other Word Forms

• pre-Persian adjective
• pseudo-Persian adjective
• trans-Persian adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of Persian¹

First recorded in 1325–75; Persi(a) + -an; replacing Middle English Persien, from Middle French; replacing Old English Persisc ( -ish ¹ )

Example Sentences

Its maiden voyage was to the Persian Gulf in 2003 for the invasion that ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

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Qatar, a Persian Gulf nation with little airspace of its own, has long cultivated ties with the U.S. military.

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Qatar and its Persian Gulf neighbors, who had acted as vital go-betweens for the U.S.,

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Now, the network airs programming in four languages: Persian, Mandarin, Dari and Pashto.

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Satellite imagery, witness accounts and verified footage obtained by BBC News Persian reveal new details of the attack in the closing hours of the Israel-Iran war and of those who died.

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