Farsi (Persian)
فارسی
Persian is one of the world's oldest living languages. It gave us "chess", "paradise", "bazaar", and "jasmine" in English, and Rumi remains the world's best-selling poet!
Lin says:
Dorood! I'm Lin! Persian is one of the world's oldest literary languages — its poetry is legendary! Rumi, the 13th-century Persian poet, is one of the best-selling poets in the world today. Persian gave English the words chess, paradise, bazaar, shawl, and jasmine. Persia's legacy stretches from ancient Persepolis to the gardens of Iran — khoshgel! (Beautiful!)
Quick Facts
Speakers
~80 million
Language Family
Indo-European (Iranian)
Writing
Persian script (right to left)
Literary History
Over 1,000 years of poetry
Discover Farsi (Persian)
Persian is one of the world's oldest living languages. It gave us "chess", "paradise", "bazaar", and "jasmine" in English, and Rumi remains the world's best-selling poet!
Writing System
Persian script (right to left)
Native Speakers
~80 million
Key Countries
For Educators
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Did You Know?
Persian (Farsi) is related to English, French, and Hindi — they all share an ancestor called Proto-Indo-European. Persian and English are cousins!
The Persian Empire (Achaemenid) was the largest empire the world had ever seen at its peak in 500 BC — stretching from Egypt to India.
The word "paradise" comes from the Persian word "pairidaēza" — meaning a walled garden. Ancient Persian royal gardens were considered ideal, heavenly spaces.
What Makes Farsi (Persian) Special?
Ancient Literary Tradition
Persian literature includes the Shahnameh (Book of Kings — 60,000 couplets!), the Rubáiyát, and the poetry of Rumi — all considered world literary treasures.
Chess & Paradise
The game of chess was invented in India but the word "chess" comes from Persian "shah" (king), as does "checkmate" from "shah mat" (the king is helpless).
Rumi — World's Best-Selling Poet
The 13th-century Persian poet Jalal ad-Din Rumi is remarkably the best-selling poet in the United States today, translated into hundreds of languages.
Keep Exploring the World!
Languages are windows into the world's cultures. Discover more languages and the countries where they are spoken.