Persian

American  

[pur-zhuhn, -shuhn] / ˈpɜr ʒən, -ʃən /

adjective

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

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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.

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

5. Persians. Persian blinds.

Persian British  

/ ˈpɜːʃən /

adjective

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

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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

Etymology

Origin of Persian

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

Example Sentences

Saudi Arabia, for example, has its East-West pipeline which runs from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea and can pump up to 7 million barrels of oil per day.

From BBC • Apr. 14, 2026

Iran has said no port in the Sea of Oman and Persian Gulf would be safe if its ports are threatened, The Wall Street Journal reported External link, citing Iranian state broadcaster IRIB.

From Barron's • Apr. 13, 2026

Within days, Zelenskyy extended similar agreements to the UAE and Qatar, sweeping the western shore of the Persian Gulf in a single diplomatic sprint.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 13, 2026

Many economists had already assumed the Strait of Hormuz, through which petroleum products and other commodities such as fertilizer transit from the Persian Gulf, would eventually reopen and oil prices would fall.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 12, 2026

I grabbed the innkeeper’s shoulder and said, “A Persian mystic. That’s a Persian mystic.”

From "The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams" by Daniel Nayeri