View source for Persian language

{{Short description|Western Iranian language}}
{{Redirect|Farsi|other uses|Farsi (disambiguation)}}
{{pp-vandalism|small=yes}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Persian
| altname          = 
| nativename       = {{lang|fa|فارسی}}<br />{{Transliteration|fa|fārsī}}
| pronunciation    = {{IPA|fa|fɒːɾˈsiː||Farsi.ogg}}
| states           = {{hlist|style=line-height:1.3em;
 | [[Iran]]<ref name="Samadi">{{cite book |last=Samadi |first=Habibeh |title=Assessing Grammar: The Languages of Lars |year=2012 |publisher=Multilingual Matters |isbn=978-1-84769-637-3 |author2=Nick Perkins |editor=Martin Ball |editor2=David Crystal |editor3=Paul Fletcher |page=169}}</ref>
 | [[Afghanistan]]<ref name="Samadi"/> (as [[Dari]])
 | [[Tajikistan]]<ref name="Samadi"/> (as [[Tajik language|Tajik]])
 | [[Uzbekistan]] (as Tajik)<ref name="auto">{{cite journal |first=Richard |last=Foltz |title=The Tajiks of Uzbekistan |journal=Central Asian Survey |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=213–216 |year=1996 |doi=10.1080/02634939608400946|issn = 0263-4937 }}</ref>
 | [[Iraq]]<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica |title=IRAQ |url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/iraq |access-date=7 November 2014 |url-status=live |archive-date=17 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141117111515/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/iraq}}</ref>
 | [[Turkmenistan]]<ref>{{cite book |title=Islamic Peoples of the Soviet Union |last=Akiner |first=Shirin |publisher=Routledge |year=1986 |isbn=0-7103-0188-X |location=London |pages=362}}</ref>
| [[Azerbaijan]] (as [[Tat language (Caucasus)|Tat]])<ref name="Windfuhr417418">Windfuhr, Gernot: ''The Iranian Languages'', Routledge 2009, p. 417–418.</ref>
| Russia ([[Dagestan]]; as Tat)<ref name="Windfuhr417418" />
| [[Kuwait]]<ref name="unesco">{{cite web|url=https://en.wal.unesco.org/languages/kuwaiti-persian|title=Kuwaiti Persian|work=[[UNESCO]]|access-date=27 October 2023|archive-date=29 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231029173237/https://en.wal.unesco.org/languages/kuwaiti-persian|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| [[Bahrain]]<ref name="worldatlas">{{cite web|url=https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-languages-are-spoken-in-bahrain.html|title=What Languages Are Spoken in Bahrain?|work=WorldAtlas|access-date=24 September 2025}}</ref>}}
| speakers         = [[First language|L1]]: {{sigfig|91.154770|2}} million<!--Farsi+Dari+Tajik-->
| date             = 2023–2024
| ref              = <ref name="e28|fas">{{e28|fas}}</ref>
| speakers2        = [[second language|L2]]: {{sigfig|35.485140|2}} million<!--Farsi+Dari+Tajik--> (2020–2023)<ref name="e28|fas">{{e28|fas}}</ref><br />Total: {{sigfig|126.639910|3}} million (2020–2024)<!--Farsi+Dari+Tajik--><ref name="e28|fas">{{e28|fas}}</ref>
| speakers_label   = Speakers
| familycolor      = Indo-European
| fam2             = [[Indo-Iranian languages|Indo-Iranian]]
| fam3             = [[Iranian languages|Iranian]]
| fam4             = [[Western Iranian languages|Western]]
| fam5             = [[Southwestern Iranian languages|Southwestern]]
| ancestor         = [[Old Persian]]
| ancestor2        = [[Middle Persian]]
| ancestor3        = [[New Persian#Early New Persian|Early New Persian]]
| dia1             = [[Iranian Persian|Iranian (Western)]]
| dia2             = [[Dari|Dari (Eastern)]]
| dia3             = [[Tajik language|Tajik]]
| dia4             = [[Bukharian (Judeo-Persian dialect)|Bukhori]]
| dia5             = [[Pahlavani language|Pahlavani]]
| dia6             = [[Hazaragi dialect|Hazaragi]]
| dia7             = [[Aimaq dialect|Aimaq]]
| dia8             = [[Judeo-Persian]]
| dia9             = [[Dehwari language|Dehwari]]
| dia10            = [[Judeo-Tat]]<ref name="Windfuhr418">Windfuhr, Gernot: ''The Iranian Languages'', Routledge 2009, p. 418.</ref>
| dia11            = [[Tat language (Caucasus)|Caucasian Tat]]<ref name="Windfuhr418"/>
| dia12            = [[Armeno-Tats|Armeno-Tat]]<ref name="Windfuhr418"/>
| dia13            = [[Madaklashti dialect|Madaklashti]]
| stand1           = [[Iranian Persian]]
| stand2           = [[Dari|Afghan Persian]]
| stand3           = [[Tajik language|Tajik Persian]]
| script           = {{plainlist}}
* [[Persian alphabet]] in [[Iran]] and [[Afghanistan]]
* [[Cyrillic script|Cyrillic]] ([[Tajik alphabet]]) in [[Tajikistan]]
* [[Old Persian cuneiform]] (525 BC – 330 BC)
* [[Pahlavi scripts]] (2nd century BC to 7th century AD)
* [[Persian Braille]]
{{endplainlist}}
| nation           = {{plainlist}}
* [[Iran]]<ref name="Iran Constitution">[[Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran]]: Chapter II, Article 15: "The official language and script of Iran, the [[lingua franca]] of its people, is Persian. Official documents, correspondence, and texts, as well as text-books, must be in this language and script. However, the use of regional and tribal languages in the press and mass media, as well as for teaching of their literature in schools, is allowed in addition to Persian."</ref>
* [[Afghanistan]] (as [[Dari]])
* [[Tajikistan]] (as [[Tajik language|Tajik]])
{{endplainlist}}
Russia
* [[Dagestan]] (as [[Tat language (Caucasus)|Tat]])<ref>[[Constitution of the Republic of Dagestan]]: Chapter I, Article 11: "The state languages of the Republic of Dagestan are Russian and the languages of the peoples of Dagestan."</ref>
| agency           = {{plainlist}}
* [[Academy of Persian Language and Literature]] (Iran)
* [[Academy of Sciences of Afghanistan]] (Afghanistan)
* [[Rudaki Institute of Language and Literature]] (Tajikistan)
{{endplainlist}}
| iso1             = fa
| iso2b            = per
| iso2t            = fas
| iso3             = fas
| lc1              = pes
| ld1              = [[Iranian Persian]]
| lc2              = prs
| ld2              = [[Dari]]
| lc3              = tgk
| ld3              = [[Tajik language]]<!--This and the following codes aren't part of the macrolanguage per SIL-->
| lc4              = aiq
| ld4              = [[Aimaq dialect]]
| lc5              = bhh
| ld5              = [[Bukhori dialect]]
| lc7              = haz
| ld7              = [[Hazaragi dialect]]
| lc8              = jpr
| ld8              = [[Judeo-Persian]]
| lc9              = phv
| ld9              = [[Pahlavani language|Pahlavani]]
| lc10             = deh
| ld10             = [[Dehwari language|Dehwari]]
| lc11             = jdt
| ld11             = [[Judeo-Tat]]
| lc12             = ttt
| ld12             = [[Tat language (Caucasus)|Caucasian Tat]]
| lingua           = {{longitem|58-AAC (Wider Persian)<br> > 58-AAC-c (Central Persian)}}
| image            = Farsi.svg
| imagescale       = 0.45
| imagecaption     = ''Fārsi'' written in [[Persian calligraphy]] ([[Nastaʿlīq]])
| map              = Persian Language Location Map.svg{{!}}border
| mapcaption       = Areas with significant numbers of people whose first language is Persian (including dialects)
| map2             = Map of Persian speakers.svg{{!}}border
| mapcaption2      = Persian linguasphere<br>Legend
{{legend|#002255|Official language}}
{{legend|#0044AA|More than 1,000,000 speakers}}
{{legend|#0066FF|Between 500,000 and 1,000,000 speakers}}
{{legend|#5599FF|Between 100,000 and 500,000 speakers}}
{{legend|#AACCFF|Between 25,000 and 100,000 speakers}}
{{legend|#b9b9b9|Fewer than 25,000 speakers to none}}
| notice           = IPA
| glotto           = fars1254
| glottorefname    = Farsic-Caucasian Tat
}}
{{Contains special characters|Perso-Arabic}}

'''Persian''',{{efn|{{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|ɜr|ʒ|ən|,_|-|ʃ|ən}} {{respell|PUR|zhən|,_|-|shən}}}} also known by its [[endonym and exonym|endonym]] '''Farsi''',{{efn|{{lang|fa|فارسی}}, Fārsī {{IPA|fa|fɒːɾˈsiː||Farsi.ogg}}; [[Early New Persian]]: {{lang|fa|پارسی}}, Pārsī}} is a [[Western Iranian languages|Western Iranian language]] belonging to the [[Iranian languages|Iranian branch]] of the [[Indo-Iranian languages|Indo-Iranian subdivision]] of the [[Indo-European languages]]. Persian is a [[pluricentric language]] predominantly spoken and used officially within [[Iran]], [[Afghanistan]], and [[Tajikistan]] in three [[mutual intelligibility|mutually intelligible]] [[standard language|standard varieties]], respectively [[Iranian Persian]] (officially known as ''Persian''),<ref>{{cite web |title=Persian, Iranian |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/pes |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220105062922/https://www.ethnologue.com/language/pes |archive-date=5 January 2022 |access-date=25 February 2021 |work=Ethnologue}}</ref><ref name="ISO">{{cite web |url=https://iso639-3.sil.org/code/fas |title=639 Identifier Documentation: fas |publisher=Sil.org |access-date=25 February 2021 |archive-date=16 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220216202338/https://iso639-3.sil.org/code/fas |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran |url=https://en.parliran.ir/eng/en/Constitution |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161027004409/https://en.parliran.ir/eng/en/Constitution |archive-date=27 October 2016 |access-date=18 January 2022 |website=Islamic Parliament of Iran}}</ref> [[Dari|Dari Persian]] (officially known as ''Dari'' since 1964),<ref name="Olesen">{{cite book |first=Asta |last=Olesen |title=Islam and Politics in Afghanistan |volume=3 |publisher=Psychology Press |year=1995 |page=205 |quote=There began a general promotion of the Pashto language at the expense of Farsi – previously dominant in the educational and administrative system (...) – and the term 'Dari' for the Afghan version of Farsi came into common use, being officially adopted in 1958.}}</ref> and [[Tajik language|Tajiki Persian]] (officially known as ''Tajik'' since 1999).<ref name=siddikzoda2002>Siddikzoda, S. "Tajik Language: Farsi or not Farsi?" in ''Media Insight Central Asia #27'', August 2002.</ref><ref name="Baker">{{cite book |last=Baker |first=Mona |title=Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ewBfSBo8rRsC |year=2001 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-25517-2 |page=518 |quote=All this affected translation activities in Persian, seriously undermining the international character of the language. The problem was compounded in modern times by several factors, among them the realignment of Central Asian Persian, renamed Tajiki by the Soviet Union, with Uzbek and Russian languages, as well as the emergence of a language reform movement in Iran which paid no attention to the consequences of its pronouncements and actions for the language as a whole. |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-date=2 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221002103438/https://books.google.com/books?id=ewBfSBo8rRsC |url-status=live}}</ref> It is also spoken natively in the Tajik variety by a significant population within [[Uzbekistan]],<ref name="auto"/><ref>{{cite book |first=Lena |last=Jonson |year=2006 |title=Tajikistan in the new Central Asia |page=108}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Cordell |first=Karl |url=https://archive.org/details/ethnicitydemocra0000unse_y7f7 |title=Ethnicity and Democratisation in the New Europe |publisher=Routledge |year=1998 |isbn=0415173124 |page=201 |quote=Consequently the number of citizens who regard themselves as Tajiks is difficult to determine. Tajiks within and outside of the republic, Samarkand State University (SamGU) academics and international commentators suggest that there may be between six and seven million Tajiks in Uzbekistan, constituting 30 per cent of the republic's twenty-two million population, rather than the official figure of 4.7 per cent (Foltz 1996:213; Carlisle 1995:88).}}</ref> as well as within other regions with a [[Persianate society|Persianate]] history in the cultural sphere of [[Greater Iran]]. It is written officially within Iran and Afghanistan in the [[Persian alphabet]], a derivative of the [[Arabic script]], and within Tajikistan in the [[Tajik alphabet]], a derivative of the [[Cyrillic script]].

Modern Persian is a continuation of [[Middle Persian]], an official language of the [[Sasanian Empire]] (224–651 CE), itself a continuation of [[Old Persian]], which was used in the [[Achaemenid Empire]] (550–330 BCE).<ref name="Lazard"/><ref>{{cite book |first1=Ulrich |last1=Ammon |first2=Norbert |last2=Dittmar |first3=Klaus J. |last3=Mattheier |first4=Peter |last4=Trudgill |title=Sociolinguistics: An International Handbook of the Science of Language and Society |volume=3 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |year=2006 |edition=2nd |page=1912 |quote=The Pahlavi language (also known as Middle Persian) was the official language of Iran during the Sassanid dynasty (from 3rd to 7th century A. D.). Pahlavi is the direct continuation of old Persian, and was used as the written official language of the country. However, after the Moslem conquest and the collapse of the Sassanids, Arabic became the dominant language of the country and Pahlavi lost its importance, and was gradually replaced by Dari, a variety of Middle Persian, with considerable loan elements from Arabic and Parthian (Moshref 2001).}}</ref> It originated in the region of [[Fars province|Fars]] ([[Persis|Persia]]) in southwestern Iran.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Skjærvø |first=Prods Oktor |year=2006 |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica |url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/iran-vi-iranian-languages-and-scripts |volume=XIII |pages=344–377 |title=Iran, vi. Iranian languages and scripts |quote=(...) Persian, the language originally spoken in the province of Fārs, which is descended from Old Persian, the language of the Achaemenid empire (6th–4th centuries B.C.E.), and Middle Persian, the language of the Sasanian empire (3rd–7th centuries C.E.). |access-date=10 July 2019 |archive-date=23 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200423163002/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/iran-vi-iranian-languages-and-scripts |url-status=live}}</ref> Its grammar is similar to that of many European languages.<ref name="Richard Davis 2006. pp. 602-603">{{cite encyclopedia |first=Richard |last=Davis |title=Persian |editor1-first=Josef W. |editor1-last=Meri |editor2-first=Jere L. |editor2-last=Bacharach |encyclopedia=Medieval Islamic Civilization |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2006 |pages=602–603 |quote=Similarly, the core vocabulary of Persian continued to be derived from Pahlavi, but Arabic lexical items predominated for more abstract or abstruse subjects and often replaced their Persian equivalents in polite discourse. (...) The grammar of New Persian is similar to that of many contemporary European languages.}}</ref>

Throughout history, Persian was considered prestigious by various empires centered in [[West Asia]], [[Central Asia]], and [[South Asia]].<ref name="Persian literature">{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/art/Persian-literature |title=Persian literature |first=J.T.P. |last=de Bruijn |date=14 December 2015 |access-date=10 July 2019 |archive-date=10 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190610213004/https://www.britannica.com/art/Persian-literature |url-status=live}}</ref> Old Persian is attested in [[Old Persian cuneiform]] on inscriptions from between the 6th and 4th century BC. Middle Persian is attested in [[Aramaic alphabet|Aramaic]]-derived scripts ([[Pahlavi scripts|Pahlavi]] and [[Manichaean script|Manichaean]]) on [[Inscriptional Pahlavi|inscriptions]] and in [[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrian]] and [[Manichaeism|Manichaean]] scriptures from between the third to the tenth centuries (see [[Middle Persian literature]]). New Persian literature was first recorded in the ninth century, after the [[Muslim conquest of Persia]], since then adopting the Perso-Arabic script.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica |url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/iran-vi2-documentation |title=Iran vi. Iranian languages and scripts (2) Documentation |first=Prods Oktor |last=Skjærvø |pages=348–366 |volume=XIII |access-date=30 December 2012 |archive-date=17 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161117083610/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/iran-vi2-documentation |url-status=live}}</ref>

Persian was the first language to break through the monopoly of [[Arabic]] on writing in the [[Muslim world]], with [[Persian literature|Persian poetry]] becoming a tradition in many eastern courts.<ref name="Persian literature"/> It was used officially as a language of bureaucracy even by non-native speakers, such as the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]] in [[Anatolia]],<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0dEYDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT146 |title=A History of the Muslim World since 1260: The Making of a Global Community |isbn=9781315511078 |last1=Egger |first1=Vernon O. |date=16 September 2016 |publisher=Routledge |access-date=12 June 2020 |archive-date=2 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221002103438/https://books.google.com/books?id=0dEYDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT146 |url-status=live}}</ref> the [[Mughal Empire|Mughals]] in South Asia, and the [[Pashtuns]] in Afghanistan. It influenced languages spoken in neighboring regions and beyond, including other Iranian languages, the [[Turkic languages|Turkic]], [[Armenian language|Armenian]], [[Georgian language|Georgian]], & [[Indo-Aryan languages]]. It also exerted some influence on Arabic,<ref name=Holes2001>{{cite book |last=Holes |first=Clive |title=Dialect, Culture, and Society in Eastern Arabia: Glossary |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bJLjAKH7-rIC&pg=PR30 |year=2001 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=90-04-10763-0 |page=XXX |access-date=4 September 2013 |archive-date=17 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161117170320/https://books.google.com/books?id=bJLjAKH7-rIC&pg=PR30 |url-status=live}}</ref> while borrowing a lot of vocabulary from it in the Middle Ages.<ref name="Lazard">{{harvnb|Lazard|1975}}: "The language known as New Persian, which usually is called at this period (early Islamic times) by the name of Dari or Farsi-Dari, can be classified linguistically as a continuation of Middle Persian, the official religious and literary language of Sassanian Iran, itself a continuation of Old Persian, the language of the Achaemenids. Unlike the other languages and dialects, ancient and modern, of the Iranian group such as Avestan, Parthian, Soghdian, Kurdish, Balochi, Pashto, etc., Old Persian, Middle Persian, and New Persian represent one and the same language at three states of its history. It had its origin in Fars (the true Persian country from the historical point of view) and is differentiated by dialectical features, still easily recognizable from the dialect prevailing in north-western and eastern Iran."</ref><ref name="Richard Davis 2006. pp. 602-603"/><ref name="Lazard, Gilbert 1971">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Lazard |first=Gilbert |title=Pahlavi, Pârsi, dari: Les langues d'Iran d'apès Ibn al-Muqaffa |editor-first=R.N. |editor-last=Frye |encyclopedia=Iran and Islam. In Memory of the late Vladimir Minorsky |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year=1971}}</ref><ref name="Nushin Namazi">{{cite web |url=http://cgi.stanford.edu/group/wais/cgi-bin/?p=24327 |title=Persian Loan Words in Arabic |first=Nushin |last=Namazi |date=24 November 2008 |access-date=1 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520151330/http://cgi.stanford.edu/group/wais/cgi-bin/?p=24327 |archive-date=20 May 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Classe 2000 1057">{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of literary translation into English |last=Classe |first=Olive |year=2000 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=1-884964-36-2 |page=1057 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C1uXah12nHgC&pg=PA1057 |quote=Since the Arab conquest of the country in 7th century AD, many loan words have entered the language (which from this time has been written with a slightly modified version of the Arabic script) and the literature has been heavily influenced by the conventions of Arabic literature. |access-date=28 September 2020 |archive-date=10 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310173122/https://books.google.com/books?id=C1uXah12nHgC&pg=PA1057 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=lambtonexcerpt>{{cite book |first=Ann K. S. |last=Lambton |title=Persian grammar |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1953 |quote=The Arabic words incorporated into the Persian language have become Persianized.}}</ref>

Some of the world's most famous pieces of literature from the Middle Ages, such as the ''[[Shahnameh]]'' by [[Ferdowsi]], the works of [[Rumi]], the ''[[Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam|Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám]]'', the {{Lang|fa-latn|[[Khamsa of Nizami|Panj Ganj]]}} of [[Nizami Ganjavi]], [[The Divān of Hafez|''The Divān'' of Hafez]], ''[[The Conference of the Birds]]'' by [[Attar of Nishapur]], and the miscellanea of ''[[Gulistan (book)|Gulistan]]'' and ''[[Bustan (book)|Bustan]]'' by [[Saadi Shirazi]], are written in Persian.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Vafa |first1=A |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oNIxEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA2 |title=Persian Literature as World Literature |last2=Abedinifard |first2=M |last3=Azadibougar |first3=O |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2021 |isbn=978-1-501-35420-5 |location=US |pages=2–14}}</ref> Some of the prominent modern Persian poets were [[Nima Yooshij]], [[Ahmad Shamlou]], [[Simin Behbahani]], [[Sohrab Sepehri]], [[Rahi Mo'ayyeri]], [[Mehdi Akhavan-Sales]], and [[Forugh Farrokhzad]].

There are approximately 130 million Persian speakers worldwide, including [[Persians]], [[Lurs]], [[Tajiks]], [[Hazaras]], [[Iranian Azerbaijanis|Iranian Azeris]], [[Iranian Kurds]], [[Baloch people|Balochs]], [[Tat people (Caucasus)|Tats]], [[Afghan Pashtuns]], and [[Aimaq people|Aimaqs]]. The term ''Persophone'' might also be used to refer to a speaker of Persian.{{sfn|Perry|2005|p=284}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Green |first=Nile |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-PQtDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT12 |title=Making Space: Sufis and Settlers in Early Modern India |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2012 |isbn=9780199088751 |pages=12–13 |access-date=10 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200213125057/https://books.google.com/books?id=-PQtDwAAQBAJ |archive-date=13 February 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Classification==
Persian is a member of the [[Western Iranian languages|Western Iranian group]] of the [[Iranian languages]], which make up a branch of the [[Indo-European languages]] in their [[Indo-Iranian languages|Indo-Iranian subdivision]]. The Western Iranian languages themselves are divided into two subgroups: Southwestern Iranian languages, of which Persian is the most widely spoken, and Northwestern Iranian languages, of which [[Kurdish languages|Kurdish]] and [[Balochi language|Balochi]] are the most widely spoken.<ref name="windfuhr1987">{{cite book |last=Windfuhr |first=Gernot |url=https://archive.org/details/worldsmajorlangu0000unse/page/523 |title=The World's Major Languages |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1987 |isbn=978-0-19-506511-4 |editor-last=Comrie |editor-first=Berard |location=Oxford |pages=[https://archive.org/details/worldsmajorlangu0000unse/page/523 523–546] |url-access=registration}}</ref>

==Name==
The term ''Persian'' is an English derivation of [[Latin]] {{lang|la|Persiānus}}, the adjectival form of {{lang|la|Persia}}, itself deriving from [[Greek language|Greek]] {{grc-tr|Περσίς}} ({{lang|grc|Περσίς}}),<ref>{{LSJ|*persi/s|Περσίς|ref}}.</ref> a Hellenized form of [[Old Persian]] {{Transliteration|peo|Pārsa}} ({{lang|peo|𐎱𐎠𐎼𐎿}}),<ref>{{OEtymD|Persia}}</ref> which means "[[Persis|Persia]]" (a region in southwestern Iran, corresponding to modern-day [[Fars province|Fars]]). According to the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'', the term ''Persian'' as a language name is first attested in English in the mid-16th century.<ref>''[[Oxford English Dictionary]] online'', s.v. "Persian", draft revision June 2007.</ref>

''{{Transliteration|fa|Farsi}}'', which is the Persian word for the Persian language, has also been used widely in English in recent decades, more often to refer to Iran's standard Persian. However, the name ''Persian'' is still more widely used. The [[Academy of Persian Language and Literature]] has maintained that the [[exonym and endonym|endonym]] ''{{Transliteration|fa|Farsi}}'' is to be avoided in foreign languages, and that ''Persian'' is the appropriate designation of the language in English, as it has the longer tradition in western languages and better expresses the role of the language as a mark of cultural and national continuity.<ref name="Farhangestan">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Farhangestān |url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/farhangestan |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica |access-date=3 October 2014 |first=M. A. |last=Jazayeri |date=15 December 1999 |archive-date=25 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170425200631/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/farhangestan |url-status=live}}</ref> Iranian historian and linguist [[Ehsan Yarshater]], founder of the ''[[Encyclopædia Iranica]]'' and [[Columbia University]]'s Center for Iranian Studies, mentions the same concern in an academic journal on [[Iranian studies|Iranology]], rejecting the use of ''{{Transliteration|fa|Farsi}}'' in foreign languages.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Zaban-i Nozohur |journal=Iran-Shenasi: A Journal of Iranian Studies |volume=IV |number=I |year=1992 |pages=27–30}}</ref>

Etymologically, the term {{Transliteration|fa|Farsi}} derives from its earlier form {{Transliteration|fa|Pārsi}} ({{Transliteration|pal|Pārsik}} in [[Middle Persian]]), which in turn comes from the same root as the English term ''Persian''.<ref name="Spooner">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CjibFs9JlgoC |title=Literacy in the Persianate World: Writing and the Social Order |year=2012 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-1934536568 |first1=Brian |last1=Spooner |first2=William L. |last2=Hanaway |pages=6, 81 |access-date=22 July 2019 |archive-date=13 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200213212710/https://books.google.com/books?id=CjibFs9JlgoC |url-status=live}}</ref> In the same process, the Middle Persian toponym {{Transliteration|pal|Pārs}} ("Persia") evolved into the modern name Fars.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Spooner |first1=Brian |editor1-last=Schiffman |editor1-first=Harold |title=Language Policy and Language Conflict in Afghanistan and Its Neighbors: The Changing Politics of Language Choice |date=2012 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden |page=94 |isbn=978-9004201453 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=52aicl9l7rwC&pg=PA94 |chapter=Dari, Farsi, and Tojiki |access-date=30 October 2015 |archive-date=10 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310173125/https://books.google.com/books?id=52aicl9l7rwC&pg=PA94 |url-status=live}}</ref> The phonemic shift from {{IPA|/p/}} to {{IPA|/f/}} is due to the [[Influence of Arabic on other languages|influence of Arabic]] in the Middle Ages, from the lack of the phoneme {{IPA|/p/}} in Standard Arabic.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Campbell |editor1-first=George L. |editor2-last=King |editor2-first=Gareth |title=Compendium of the World's Languages |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |page=1339 |edition=3rd |chapter=Persian |isbn=9781136258466 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DWAqAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1339 |access-date=30 October 2015 |archive-date=10 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310173227/https://books.google.com/books?id=DWAqAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1339 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Perry, John R. "Persian morphology." Morphologies of Asia and Africa 2 (2007): 975–1019.</ref><ref>Seraji, Mojgan, Beáta Megyesi, and Joakim Nivre. "A basic language resource kit for Persian." Eight International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC 2012), 23–25 May 2012, Istanbul, Turkey. European Language Resources Association, 2012.</ref><ref>Sahranavard, Neda, and Jerry Won Lee. "The Persianization of English in multilingual Tehran." World Englishes (2020).</ref>

===Standard varieties' names===
The standard Persian of Iran has been called, apart from ''Persian'' and ''Farsi'', by names such as ''Iranian Persian'' and ''Western Persian'', exclusively.<ref>{{cite book |title=The International Cyclopedia: A Compendium of Human Knowledge |last=Richardson |first=Charles Francis |publisher=Dodd, Mead |year=1892 |pages=541}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Linguistics |last=Strazny |first=Philipp |year=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-45522-4 |pages=324}}</ref> The official language of Iran is designated simply as ''Persian'' ({{lang|fa|فارسی}}, {{Transliteration|pes|fārsi}}).<ref name="Iran Constitution"/>

The standard Persian of Afghanistan has been officially named ''Dari'' ({{lang|prs|دری}}, {{Transliteration|prs|dari}}) since 1958.<ref name="Olesen"/> Also referred to as ''Afghan Persian'' in English, it is one of Afghanistan's two official languages, together with [[Pashto language|Pashto]]. The term ''Dari'', meaning "of the court", originally referred to the variety of Persian used in the court of the Sasanian Empire in capital [[Ctesiphon]], which spread to the northeast of the empire and gradually replaced the former Iranian dialects of [[Parthia]] ([[Parthian language|Parthian]]).<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/dari |title=Darī |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica |date=17 November 2011 |first=Gilbert |last=Lazard |volume=VII |pages=34–35 |quote=It is derived from the word for ''dar'' (court, lit., "gate"). ''Darī'' was thus the language of the court and of the capital, Ctesiphon. On the other hand, it is equally clear from this passage that ''darī'' was also in use in the eastern part of the empire, in Khorasan, where in the course of the Sasanian period Persian gradually supplanted Parthian and no dialect that was not Persian survived. The passage thus suggests that ''darī'' was actually a form of Persian, the common language of Persia. (...) Both were called ''pārsī'' (Persian), but it is very likely that the language of the north, that is, the Persian used on former Parthian territory and also in the Sasanian capital, was distinguished from its congener by a new name, ''darī'' ([language] of the court). |access-date=22 July 2019 |archive-date=24 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124025639/https://iranicaonline.org/articles/dari |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |first=Ludwig |last=Paul |url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/persian-language-1-early-new-persian |title=Persian Language: i: Early New Persian |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica |date=19 November 2013 |quote=''Northeast''. Khorasan, the homeland of the Parthians (called ''abaršahr'' "the upper lands" in MP), had been partly Persianized already in late Sasanian times. Following Ebn al-Moqaffaʿ, the variant of Persian spoken there was called ''Darī'' and was based upon the one used in the Sasanian capital Seleucia-Ctesiphon (Ar. ''al-Madāʾen''). (...) Under the specific historical conditions that have been sketched above, the Dari (Middle) Persian of the 7th century was developed, within two centuries, to the Dari (New) Persian that is attested in the earliest specimens of NP poetry in the late 9th century. |access-date=18 March 2019 |archive-date=17 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190317184538/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/persian-language-1-early-new-persian |url-status=live}}</ref>

Tajik Persian ({{lang|tg|форси́и тоҷикӣ́}}, {{Transliteration|tg|forsi-i tojikī}}), the standard Persian of Tajikistan, has been officially designated as ''Tajik'' ({{lang|tg-Cyrl|тоҷикӣ}}, {{Transliteration|tg|''tojikī''}}) since the time of the [[Soviet Union]].<ref name="Baker"/> It is the name given to the varieties of Persian spoken in Central Asia in general.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/tajik-ii-tajiki-persian |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica |title=Tajik ii. Tajik Persian |first=John |last=Perry |date=20 July 2009 |access-date=22 July 2019 |archive-date=1 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200201053157/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/tajik-ii-tajiki-persian |url-status=live}}</ref>

===ISO codes===
The international language-encoding standard [[ISO 639-1]] uses the code <code>fa</code> for the Persian language, as its coding system is mostly based on the native-language designations. The more detailed standard [[ISO 639-3]] uses the code <code>fas</code> for the dialects spoken across Iran and Afghanistan.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://iso639-3.sil.org/code/fas |title=639 Identifier Documentation: fas |publisher=Sil.org |access-date=5 March 2021 |archive-date=16 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220216202338/https://iso639-3.sil.org/code/fas |url-status=live}}</ref> This consists of the individual languages Dari (<code>prs</code>) and Iranian Persian (<code>pes</code>). It uses <code>tgk</code> for Tajik, separately.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://iso639-3.sil.org/code/tgk |title=639 Identifier Documentation: tgk |publisher=Sil.org |access-date=5 March 2021 |archive-date=2 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210302020106/https://iso639-3.sil.org/code/tgk |url-status=live}}</ref>

==History==
In general, the Iranian languages are known from three periods: namely Old, Middle, and New (Modern). These correspond to three historical eras of [[History of Iran|Iranian history]]; Old era being sometime around the [[Achaemenid Empire]] (i.e., 400–300 BC), Middle era being the next period most officially around the [[Sasanian Empire]], and New era being the period afterward down to present day.<ref name=EI-IL-vi>{{harvnb|Skjærvø|2006}} vi(2). Documentation.</ref>

According to available documents, the Persian language is "the only Iranian language"<ref name="Lazard"/> for which close philological relationships between all of its three stages are established and so that Old, Middle, and New Persian represent<ref name="Lazard"/><ref name=EI-IL-vi(2)/> one and the same language of Persian; that is, New Persian is a direct descendant of Middle and Old Persian.<ref name=EI-IL-vi(2)>cf. {{harvnb|Skjærvø|2006}} vi(2). Documentation. Excerpt 1: "Only the official languages Old, Middle, and New Persian represent three stages of one and the same language, whereas close genetic relationships are difficult to establish between other Middle and Modern Iranian languages. Modern Yaḡnōbi belongs to the same dialect group as Sogdian, but is not a direct descendant; Bactrian may be closely related to modern Yidḡa and Munji (Munjāni); and Wakhi (Wāḵi) belongs with Khotanese.'' Excerpt 2: ''New Persian, the descendant of Middle Persian and official language of Iranian states for centuries."</ref> Gernot Windfuhr considers new Persian as an evolution of the Old Persian language and the Middle Persian language<ref>{{cite book |last=Comrie |first=Bernard |title=The Major Languages of South Asia, the Middle East and Africa |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5IXJ1RbE8-8C |year=2003 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-93257-3}}, p. 82. "The evolution of Persian as the culturally dominant language of major parts of the Near East, from Anatolia and Iran, to Central Asia, to northwest India until recent centuries, began with the political domination of these areas by dynasties originating in southwestern province of Iran, Pars, later Arabicised to Fars: first the Achaemenids (599–331 BC) whose official language was Old Persian; then the Sassanids (c. AD 225–651) whose official language was Middle Persian. Hence, the entire country used to be called Perse by the ancient Greeks, a practice continued to this day. The more general designation 'Iran(-shahr)" derives from Old Iranian aryanam (Khshathra)' (the realm) of Aryans'. The dominance of these two dynasties resulted in Old and Middle-Persian colonies throughout the empire, most importantly for the course of the development of Persian, in the north-east i.e., what is now Khorasan, northern Afghanistan, and Central Asia, as documented by the Middle Persian texts of the Manichean found in the oasis city of Turfan in Chinese Turkistan ([[Xinjiang|Sinkiang]]). This led to certain degree of regionalisation".</ref> but also states that none of the known Middle Persian dialects is the direct predecessor of Modern Persian.<ref>Comrie, Bernard (1990) ''The major languages of South Asia, the Middle East and Africa'', Taylor & Francis, p. 82</ref><ref>Barbara M. Horvath, Paul Vaughan, ''Community languages'', 1991, p. 276</ref> Ludwig Paul states: "The language of the Shahnameh should be seen as one instance of continuous historical development from Middle to New Persian."<ref>L. Paul (2005), "The Language of the Shahnameh in historical and dialectical perspective", p. 150: "The language of the Shahnameh should be seen as one instance of continuous historical development from Middle to New Persian.", ''in'' {{cite book |last1=Weber |first1=Dieter |last2=MacKenzie |first2=D. N. |title=Languages of Iran: Past and Present: Iranian Studies in Memoriam David Neil MacKenzie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4sz3YuyMJ5gC |year=2005 |publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag |isbn=978-3-447-05299-3 |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-date=17 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161117165501/https://books.google.com/books?id=4sz3YuyMJ5gC |url-status=live}}</ref>

The known history of the Persian language can be divided into the following three distinct periods:

===Old Persian===
{{Main|Old Persian}}
[[File:Persépolis. Inscription.jpg|thumb|right|An [[Old Persian]] inscription written in [[Old Persian cuneiform]] in [[Persepolis]], Iran]]
As a [[written language]], Old Persian is attested in royal [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenid]] inscriptions. The oldest known text written in Old Persian is from the [[Behistun Inscription]], dating to the time of King [[Darius I]] (reigned 522–486 BC).{{sfn|Schmitt|2008|pp=80–1}}{{citation not found|date=January 2024}} Examples of Old Persian have been found in what is now [[Iran]], Romania ([[Gherla]]),{{sfn|Kuhrt|2013|page=197}}{{sfn|Frye|1984|page=103}}{{sfn|Schmitt|2000|page=53}} [[Armenia]], [[Bahrain]], [[Iraq]], Turkey, and [[Egypt]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.avesta.org/op/op.htm |title=Roland G. Kent, Old Persian, 1953 |access-date=5 September 2015 |archive-date=19 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170719155757/http://avesta.org/op/op.htm |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="OPGTL 6">Kent, R. G.: "Old Persian: Grammar Texts Lexicon", page 6. American Oriental Society, 1950.</ref> Old Persian is one of the earliest attested Indo-European languages.<ref name=EI-IL-vi-vi(2)>{{harvnb|Skjærvø|2006|loc=vi(2). Documentation. Old Persian.}}</ref>

According to certain historical assumptions about the early history and origin of ancient Persians in [[Fars province|Southwestern Iran]] (where Achaemenids hailed from), Old Persian was originally spoken by a tribe called ''Parsuwash'', who arrived in the [[Iranian Plateau]] early in the 1st millennium BCE and finally migrated down into the area of present-day Fārs province. Their language, Old Persian, became the official language of the Achaemenid kings.<ref name=EI-IL-vi-vi(2)/> Assyrian records, which in fact appear to provide the earliest evidence for ancient Iranian (Persian and Median) presence on the Iranian Plateau, give a good chronology but only an approximate geographical indication of what seem to be ancient Persians. In these records of the 9th century BCE, ''Parsuwash'' (along with ''Matai'', presumably Medians) are first mentioned in the area of [[Lake Urmia]] in the records of [[Shalmaneser III]].<ref name=EI-IL-vi-vi(1)>{{harvnb|Skjærvø|2006|loc=vi(1). Earliest Evidence}}</ref> The exact identity of the Parsuwash is not known for certain, but from a linguistic viewpoint the word matches Old Persian {{lang|peo-Latn|pārsa}} itself coming directly from the older word {{lang|peo-Latn|*pārćwa}}.<ref name=EI-IL-vi-vi(1)/> Also, as Old Persian contains many words from another extinct Iranian language, [[Median language|Median]], according to [[Prods Oktor Skjaervo|P. O. Skjærvø]] it is probable that Old Persian had already been spoken before the formation of the [[Achaemenid Empire]] and was spoken during most of the first half of the first millennium BCE.<ref name=EI-IL-vi-vi(2)/> [[Xenophon]], a Greek general serving in some of the Persian expeditions, describes many aspects of Armenian village life and hospitality in around 401 BCE, which is when Old Persian was still spoken and extensively used. He relates that the [[Armenian people]] spoke a [[Armenian language|language]] that to his ear sounded like the language of the Persians.<ref>{{cite book |author=Xenophon |author-link=Xenophon |title=Anabasis |pages=IV.v.2–9 |title-link=Anabasis (Xenophon)}}</ref>

Related to Old Persian, but from a different branch of the Iranian language family, was [[Avestan]], the language of the [[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrian]] liturgical texts.

===Middle Persian===
{{Main|Middle Persian}}
[[File:Stone block with Paikuli inscription.JPG|thumb|[[Middle Persian]] text written in [[Inscriptional Pahlavi]] on the [[Paikuli inscription]] from between 293 and 297. [[Sulaymaniyah Museum|Slemani Museum]], [[Iraqi Kurdistan]].]]

The complex [[grammatical conjugation]] and [[declension]] of Old Persian yielded to the structure of Middle Persian in which the dual number disappeared, leaving only singular and plural, as did gender. Middle Persian developed the [[ezāfe]] construction, expressed through ''ī'' (modern ''e/ye''), to indicate some of the relations between words that have been lost with the simplification of the earlier grammatical system.

Although the "middle period" of the Iranian languages formally begins with the fall of the Achaemenid Empire, the transition from Old to Middle Persian had probably already begun before the 4th century BC. However, Middle Persian is not actually attested until 600 years later when it appears in the Sassanid era (224–651 AD) inscriptions, so any form of the language before this date cannot be described with any degree of certainty. Moreover, as a literary language, Middle Persian is not attested until much later, in the 6th or 7th century. From the 8th century onward, Middle Persian gradually began yielding to New Persian, with the middle-period form only continuing in the texts of [[Zoroastrianism]].

Middle Persian is considered to be a later form of the same dialect as Old Persian.<ref>Nicholas Sims-Williams, "The Iranian Languages", in Steever, Sanford (ed.) (1993), ''The Indo-European Languages'', p. 129.</ref> The [[endonym and exonym|native name]] of Middle Persian was ''Parsig'' or ''Parsik'', after the name of the ethnic group of the southwest, that is, "of ''Pars''", Old Persian ''Parsa'', New Persian ''[[Fars province|Fars]]''. This is the origin of the name ''Farsi'' as it is today used to signify New Persian. Following the collapse of the Sassanid state, ''Parsik'' came to be applied exclusively to (either Middle or New) Persian that was written in the [[Arabic script]]. From about the 9th century onward, as Middle Persian was on the threshold of becoming New Persian, the older form of the language came to be erroneously called ''[[Middle Persian|Pahlavi]]'', which was actually but one of the ''writing systems'' used to render both Middle Persian as well as various other Middle Iranian languages. That writing system had previously been adopted by the Sassanids (who were Persians, i.e. from the southwest) from the preceding Arsacids (who were Parthians, i.e. from the northeast). While [[Ibn al-Muqaffa']] (eighth century) still distinguished between ''Pahlavi'' (i.e. Parthian) and ''Persian'' (in Arabic text: al-Farisiyah) (i.e. Middle Persian), this distinction is not evident in Arab commentaries written after that date.

===New Persian===
{{Main|New Persian}}
[[File:Rudaba.JPG|thumb|right|[[Ferdowsi]]'s ''[[Shahnameh]]'']]
"New Persian" (also referred to as Modern Persian) is conventionally divided into three stages:
*Early New Persian (8th/9th centuries)
*Classical Persian (10th–18th centuries)
*Contemporary Persian (19th century to present)

Early New Persian remains largely intelligible to speakers of Contemporary Persian, as the morphology and, to a lesser extent, the lexicon of the language have remained relatively stable.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Jeremias |first=Eva M. |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam |title=Iran, iii. (f). New Persian |edition=New Edition, Supplement |year=2004 |volume=12 |isbn=90-04-13974-5 |pages=432}}</ref>

====Early New Persian====
New Persian texts written in the [[Arabic script]] first appear in the 9th-century.{{sfn|Paul|2000}} The language is a direct descendant of Middle Persian, the official, religious, and literary language of the Sasanian Empire (224–651).{{sfn|Lazard|1975|p=596}} However, it is not descended from the literary form of Middle Persian (known as ''pārsīg'', commonly called Pahlavi), which was spoken by the people of [[Fars province|Fars]] and used in [[Zoroastrian]] religious writings. Instead, it is descended from the dialect spoken by the court of the Sasanian capital [[Ctesiphon]] and the northeastern Iranian region of [[Greater Khorasan|Khorasan]], known as Dari.{{sfn|Paul|2000}}{{sfn|Perry|2011}} The region, which comprised the present territories of northwestern Afghanistan as well as parts of Central Asia, played a leading role in the rise of New Persian. Khorasan, which was the homeland of the Parthians, was Persianized under the Sasanians. Dari Persian thus supplanted [[Parthian language]] (''pahlavānīg''), which by the end of the Sasanian era had fallen out of use.{{sfn|Paul|2000}} New Persian has incorporated many foreign words, including from [[Eastern Iranian languages|eastern]] northern and northern Iranian languages such as [[Sogdian language|Sogdian]] and especially Parthian.{{sfn|Lazard|1975|p=597}}
[[File:Persian notes on Quranic booklets, written by a native of Tūs called Ahmad Khayqānī (905 CE).jpg|thumb|Persian notes on [[Quran]]ic booklets, written by a native of [[Tus, Iran|Tus]] called Ahmad Khayqani in 292 AH (905 CE).]]
[[File:کتاب الابنیه عن الحقایق الادویه، برگی از دستنویس محفوظ در کتابخانه ملی اتریش در وین.jpg|thumb|A page from a manuscript of "Kitab al-Abniya 'an Haqa'iq al-Adwiya" by [[Abu Mansur Muwaffaq]], Copied by [[Asadi Tusi]] in 447 AH (1055 CE).]]
The transition to New Persian was already complete by the era of the three princely dynasties of Iranian origin, the [[Tahirid dynasty]] (820–872), [[Saffarid dynasty]] (860–903), and [[Samanid Empire]] (874–999).<ref name="Public Domain">Jackson, A. V. Williams. 1920. Early Persian poetry, from the beginnings down to the time of Firdausi. New York: The Macmillan Company. pp.17–19. (in [https://archive.org/stream/earlypersianpoet00jackuoft/earlypersianpoet00jackuoft_djvu.txt Public Domain])</ref> Abbas of [[Merv]] is mentioned as being the earliest minstrel to chant verse in the New Persian tongue and after him the poems of [[Hanzala Badghisi]] were among the most famous between the Persian-speakers of the time.<ref>Jackson, A. V. Williams.pp.17–19.</ref>

The first significant Persian poet was [[Rudaki]]. He flourished in the 10th century, when the Samanids were at the height of their power. His reputation as a court poet and as an accomplished musician and singer has survived, although little of his poetry has been preserved. Among his lost works are versified fables collected in the ''[[Kalīla wa-Dimna|Kalila wa Dimna]]''.<ref name="Persian literature"/>

The language spread geographically from the 11th century on and was the medium through which, among others, Central Asian Turks became familiar with Islam and urban culture. New Persian was widely used as a trans-regional [[lingua franca]], a task aided due to its relatively simple morphology, and this situation persisted until at least the 19th century.<ref name="turkiclanguages.com">Johanson, Lars, and Christiane Bulut. 2006. [http://www.turkiclanguages.com/www/Johanson2006Cont.pdf Turkic-Iranian contact areas: historical and linguistic aspects] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111002000524/http://www.turkiclanguages.com/www/Johanson2006Cont.pdf |date=2 October 2011}}. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.</ref> In the late Middle Ages, new Islamic literary languages were created on the Persian model: [[Ottoman Turkish language|Ottoman Turkish]], [[Chagatai language|Chagatai Turkic]], [[Dobhashi|Dobhashi Bengali]], and Urdu, which are regarded as "structural daughter languages" of Persian.<ref name="turkiclanguages.com"/>

====Classical Persian====
{{See also|List of Persian-language poets and authors}}
[[File:Kalila wa Dimna 001.jpg|right|thumb|[[Panchatantra|''Kalilah va Dimna'']], an influential work in Persian literature]]
"Classical Persian" loosely refers to the standardized language of [[medieval Persia]] used in [[Persian literature|literature]] and [[Persian poetry|poetry]].
This is the language of the 10th to 12th centuries, which continued to be used as literary language and [[lingua franca]] under the "[[Persianized]]" Turko-Mongol dynasties during the 12th to 15th centuries, and under restored Persian rule during the 16th to 19th centuries.<ref><!--"Classical Persian" in reference to the language is almost nerver used, at least not in published sources, but -->
according to [http://www.iranchamber.com/literature/articles/persian_language.php iranchamber.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180629102420/http://www.iranchamber.com/literature/articles/persian_language.php |date=29 June 2018}} "the language (ninth to thirteenth centuries), preserved in the literature of the Empire, is known as Classical Persian, due to the eminence and distinction of poets such as Roudaki, Ferdowsi, and Khayyam. During this period, Persian was adopted as the lingua franca of the eastern Islamic nations. Extensive contact with Arabic led to a large influx of Arab vocabulary. In fact, a writer of Classical Persian had at one's disposal the entire Arabic lexicon and could use Arab terms freely either for literary effect or to display erudition. Classical Persian remained essentially unchanged until the nineteenth century, when the dialect of Teheran rose in prominence, having been chosen as the capital of Persia by the Qajar Dynasty in 1787. This Modern Persian dialect became the basis of what is now called Contemporary Standard Persian. Although it still contains a large number of Arab terms, most borrowings have been nativized, with a much lower percentage of Arabic words in colloquial forms of the language."</ref>

Persian during this time served as lingua franca of [[Greater Persia]] and of much of the [[Indian subcontinent]].
It was also the official and cultural language of many Islamic dynasties, including the Samanids, [[Buyid dynasty|Buyids]], [[Tahirid dynasty|Tahirids]], [[Ziyarid dynasty|Ziyarids]], the [[Mughal Empire]], [[Timurid Empire|Timurids]], [[Ghaznavids]], [[Kara-Khanid Khanate|Karakhanids]], [[Seljuq dynasty|Seljuqs]], [[Khwarazmian dynasty|Khwarazmians]], the [[Sultanate of Rum]], [[Anatolian beyliks|Turkmen beyliks of Anatolia]], [[Delhi Sultanate]], the [[Shirvanshah]]s, [[Safavid dynasty|Safavids]], [[Afsharid dynasty|Afsharids]], [[Zand dynasty|Zands]], [[Qajar dynasty|Qajars]], [[Khanate of Bukhara]], [[Khanate of Kokand]], [[Emirate of Bukhara]], [[Khanate of Khiva]], [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]], and also many Mughal successors such as the [[Nizam of Hyderabad]].
Persian was the only non-European language known and used by [[Marco Polo]] at the Court of [[Kublai Khan]] and in his journeys through China.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Persian authors of Asia Minor part 1 |author-last=Yazıcı |author-first=Tahsin |url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/persian-authors-1 |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Iranica |year=2010 |quote=Persian language and culture were actually so popular and dominant in this period that in the late 14th century, Moḥammad (Meḥmed) Bey, the founder and the governing head of the Qaramanids, published an official edict to end this supremacy, saying that: "The Turkish language should be spoken in courts, palaces, and at official institutions from now on!” |access-date=6 July 2021 |archive-date=17 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201117165233/https://iranicaonline.org/articles/persian-authors-1 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>John Andrew Boyle, ''Some thoughts on the sources for the Il-Khanid period of Persian history'', in [[Iran]]: Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies, British Institute of Persian Studies, vol. 12 (1974), p. 175.</ref>

===== Use in Asia Minor =====
[[File:Ottoman miniature painters.jpg|thumb|left|Persian on an [[Ottoman miniature]]]]
A branch of the Seljuks, the [[Sultanate of Rum]], took Persian language, art, and letters to Anatolia.<ref name="Sigfried J 1994. p 734">{{cite book |last=de Laet |first=Sigfried J. |title=History of Humanity: From the seventh to the sixteenth century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PvlthkbFU1UC&pg=PA734 |year=1994 |publisher=UNESCO |isbn=978-92-3-102813-7 |access-date=18 April 2016 |archive-date=27 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727115400/https://books.google.com/books?id=PvlthkbFU1UC&pg=PA734 |url-status=live}}, p 734</ref> They adopted the Persian language as the [[official language]] of the empire.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ágoston |first1=Gábor |last2=Masters |first2=Bruce Alan |title=Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QjzYdCxumFcC&pg=PA322 |year=2010 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-1-4381-1025-7 |access-date=18 April 2016 |archive-date=1 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801124343/https://books.google.com/books?id=QjzYdCxumFcC&pg=PA322 |url-status=live|page=322}}</ref> The [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]], who can roughly be seen as their eventual successors, inherited this tradition. Persian was the official court language of the empire, and for some time, the official language of the empire.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wastl-Walter |first=Doris |title=The Ashgate Research Companion to Border Studies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6gsm72h9u_IC&pg=PA409 |year=2011 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. |isbn=978-0-7546-7406-1 |page=409 |access-date=21 October 2019 |archive-date=1 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801123640/https://books.google.com/books?id=6gsm72h9u_IC&pg=PA409 |url-status=live}}</ref> The educated and noble class of the Ottoman Empire all spoke Persian, such as Sultan [[Selim I]], despite being Safavid Iran's archrival and a staunch opposer of [[Shia Islam]].{{sfn|Spuler|2003|p=68}} It was a major literary language in the empire.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lewis |first=Franklin D. |title=Rumi – Past and Present, East and West: The Life, Teachings, and Poetry of Jalâl al-Din Rumi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PFsQBwAAQBAJ&pg=PT340 |year=2014 |publisher=Oneworld Publications |isbn=978-1-78074-737-8 |page=340 |access-date=21 October 2019 |archive-date=26 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200226000058/https://books.google.com/books?id=PFsQBwAAQBAJ&pg=PT340 |url-status=live}}</ref> Some of the noted earlier Persian works during the Ottoman rule are [[Idris Bitlisi|Idris Bidlisi]]'s ''Hasht Bihisht'', which began in 1502 and covered the reign of the first eight Ottoman rulers, and the ''Salim-Namah'', a glorification of Selim I.{{sfn|Spuler|2003|p=68}} After a period of several centuries, [[Ottoman Turkish language|Ottoman Turkish]] (which was highly Persianised itself) had developed toward a fully accepted language of literature, and which was even able to lexically satisfy the demands of a scientific presentation.{{sfn|Spuler|2003|p=69}} However, the number of Persian and Arabic loanwords contained in those works increased at times up to 88%.{{sfn|Spuler|2003|p=69}} In the Ottoman Empire, Persian was used at the royal court, for diplomacy, poetry, historiographical works, literary works, and was taught in state schools, and was also offered as an elective course or recommended for study in some ''[[madrasa]]s''.<ref>
* Chapter "Imperial Ambitions, Mystical Aspirations: Persian Learning in the Ottoman World" by Inan, Murat Umut. In Green, Nile (ed.), 2019, The Persianate World: The Frontiers of a Eurasian Lingua Franca. University of California Press. pp. 88–89. "As the Ottoman Turks learned Persian, the language and the culture it carried seeped not only into their court and imperial institutions but also into their vernacular language and culture. The appropriation of Persian, both as a second language and as a language to be steeped together with Turkish, was encouraged notably by the sultans, the ruling class, and leading members of the mystical communities."
* Chapter "Ottoman Historical Writing" by Tezcan, Baki. In Rabasa, José (ed.), 2012, The Oxford History of Historical Writing: Volume 3: 1400–1800 The Oxford History of Historical Writing: Volume 3: 1400–1800. Oxford University Press. pp. 192–211. "Persian served as a 'minority' prestige language of culture at the largely Turcophone Ottoman court."
* ''Learning to Read in the Late Ottoman Empire and the Early Turkish Republic'', B. Fortna, page 50;"''Although in the late Ottoman period Persian was taught in the state schools....''"
* ''Persian Historiography and Geography'', Bertold Spuler, page 68, "''On the whole, the circumstance in Turkey took a similar course: in Anatolia, the Persian language had played a significant role as the carrier of civilization.[..]..where it was at time, to some extent, the language of diplomacy...However Persian maintained its position also during the early Ottoman period in the composition of histories and even Sultan Salim I, a bitter enemy of Iran and the Shi'ites, wrote poetry in Persian. Besides some poetical adaptations, the most important historiographical works are: Idris Bidlisi's flowery "Hasht Bihist", or Seven Paradises, begun in 1502 by the request of Sultan Bayazid II and covering the first eight Ottoman rulers..''"
* ''Picturing History at the Ottoman Court'', Emine Fetvacı, page 31, "''Persian literature, and belles-lettres in particular, were part of the curriculum: a Persian dictionary, a manual on prose composition; and Sa'dis "Gulistan", one of the classics of Persian poetry, were borrowed. All these title would be appropriate in the religious and cultural education of the newly converted young men.''
* ''Persian Historiography: History of Persian Literature A, Volume 10'', edited by Ehsan Yarshater, Charles Melville, page 437;"...Persian held a privileged place in Ottoman letters. Persian historical literature was first patronized during the reign of Mehmed II and continued unabated until the end of the 16th century.
* Chapter ''Imperial Ambitions, Mystical Aspirations: Persian learning in the Ottoman World'', Murat Umut Inan, page 92 (note 27), edited by [[Nile Green]], (title: ''The Persianate World The Frontiers of a Eurasian Lingua Franca''); "Though Persian, unlike Arabic, was not included in the typical curriculum of an Ottoman madrasa, the language was offered as an elective course or recommended for study in some madrasas. For those Ottoman madrasa curricula featuring Persian, see Cevat İzgi, Osmanlı Medreselerinde İlim, 2 vols. (Istanbul: İz, 1997),1: 167–69."</ref>

===== Use in the Balkans =====
Persian learning was also widespread in the Ottoman-held [[Balkans]] (''[[Rumelia]]''), with a range of cities being famed for their long-standing traditions in the study of Persian and its classics, amongst them Saraybosna (modern [[Sarajevo]], Bosnia and Herzegovina), [[Mostar]] (also in Bosnia and Herzegovina), and Vardar Yenicesi (or Yenice-i Vardar, now [[Giannitsa]], in northern Greece).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Inan |first1=Murat Umut |editor1-last=Green |editor1-first=Nile |editor1-link=Nile Green |title=The Persianate World The Frontiers of a Eurasian Lingua Franca |date=2019 |publisher=University of California Press |pages=85–86 |chapter=Imperial Ambitions, Mystical Aspirations: Persian learning in the Ottoman World}}</ref>

Vardar Yenicesi differed from other localities in the Balkans insofar as that it was a town where Persian was also widely spoken.<ref name="Green">{{cite book |last1=Inan |first1=Murat Umut |editor1-last=Green |editor1-first=Nile |editor1-link=Nile Green |title=The Persianate World The Frontiers of a Eurasian Lingua Franca |date=2019 |publisher=University of California Press |page=86 |chapter=Imperial Ambitions, Mystical Aspirations: Persian learning in the Ottoman World}}</ref> However, the Persian of Vardar Yenicesi and of the rest of the Ottoman-held Balkans was different from formal Persian both in accent and vocabulary.<ref name="Green"/> The difference was apparent to such a degree that the Ottomans referred to it as "Rumelian Persian" (''Rumili Farsisi'').<ref name="Green"/> As learned people such as students, scholars and literati often frequented Vardar Yenicesi, it soon became the site of a flourishing [[Persianate society|Persianate]] linguistic and literary culture.<ref name="Green"/> The 16th-century Ottoman [[Aşık Çelebi]] (died 1572), who hailed from [[Prizren]] in modern-day [[Kosovo]], was galvanized by the abundant Persian-speaking and Persian-writing communities of Vardar Yenicesi, and he referred to the city as a "hotbed of Persian".<ref name="Green"/>

Many Ottoman Persianists who established a career in the Ottoman capital of Constantinople (modern-day [[Istanbul]]) pursued early Persian training in Saraybosna, amongst them [[Ahmed Sudi]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Inan |first1=Murat Umut |editor1-last=Green |editor1-first=Nile |editor1-link=Nile Green |title=The Persianate World The Frontiers of a Eurasian Lingua Franca |date=2019 |publisher=University of California Press |page=85 |chapter=Imperial Ambitions, Mystical Aspirations: Persian learning in the Ottoman World}}</ref>

===== Use in Indian subcontinent =====
{{Main|Persian language in the Indian subcontinent}}
{{See also|Persian and Urdu|Dobhashi}}
[[File:Agra India persian poem.jpg|thumb|Persian poem, [[Agra Fort]], India, 18th century]]
[[File:Agra castle India persian poem.jpg|thumb|Persian poem, ''Takht-e Shah Jahan'', [[Agra Fort]], India]]

The Persian language influenced the formation of many modern languages in West Asia, Europe, [[Central Asia]], and [[South Asia]]. Following the Turko-Persian [[Mahmud of Ghazni|Ghaznavid]] conquest of [[South Asia]], Persian was firstly introduced in the region by Turkic Central Asians.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bennett |first1=Clinton |last2=Ramsey |first2=Charles M. |title=South Asian Sufis: Devotion, Deviation, and Destiny |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EQJHAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA18 |year=2012 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=978-1-4411-5127-8 |page=18 |access-date=21 October 2019 |archive-date=11 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200211194610/https://books.google.com/books?id=EQJHAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA18 |url-status=live}}</ref> The basis in general for the introduction of Persian language into the subcontinent was set, from its earliest days, by various Persianized Central Asian Turkic and Afghan dynasties.<ref name="Sigfried J 1994. p 734"/> For five centuries prior to the [[British Empire|British colonization]], Persian was widely used as a second language in the [[Indian subcontinent]]. It took prominence as the language of culture and education in several Muslim courts on the subcontinent and became the sole "official language" under the [[Mughal Empire|Mughal emperors]].

The [[Bengal Sultanate]] witnessed an influx of Persian scholars, lawyers, teachers, and clerics. Thousands of Persian books and manuscripts were published in Bengal. The period of the reign of Sultan [[Ghiyathuddin Azam Shah]] is described as the "golden age of Persian literature in Bengal". Its stature was illustrated by the Sultan's own correspondence and collaboration with the Persian poet [[Hafez]]; a poem which can be found in the ''Divan of Hafez'' today.<ref>{{cite Banglapedia |article=Persian |author=Abu Musa Mohammad Arif Billah}}</ref> A [[Bengali language|Bengali]] dialect emerged among the common [[Bengali Muslim]] folk, based on a Persian model and known as [[Dobhashi]]; meaning ''mixed language''. Dobhashi Bengali was patronised and given official status under the [[Sultans of Bengal]], and was a popular literary form used by Bengalis during the pre-colonial period, irrespective of their religion.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thedailystar.net/star-weekend/longform/news/tale-two-languages-how-the-persian-language-seeped-bengali-1728421 |title=A Tale of Two Languages: How the Persian language seeped into Bengali |author=Sarah Anjum Bari |date=12 April 2019 |website=[[The Daily Star (Bangladesh)]] |access-date=2 March 2020 |archive-date=21 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200621164456/https://www.thedailystar.net/star-weekend/longform/news/tale-two-languages-how-the-persian-language-seeped-bengali-1728421 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Following the defeat of the [[Hindu Shahi]] dynasty, classical Persian was established as a courtly language in the region during the late 10th century under [[Ghaznavids|Ghaznavid]] rule over the northwestern frontier of the [[Indian subcontinent|subcontinent]].<ref name="google2">{{cite book |title=The Social Space of Language: Vernacular Culture in British Colonial Punjab |author=Mir, F. |date=2010 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520262690 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EUPc5pDWKikC&pg=PA35 |page=35 |access-date=13 January 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180209045039/https://books.google.com/books?id=EUPc5pDWKikC&pg=PA35 |archive-date=9 February 2018}}</ref> Employed by [[Punjabis]] in literature, Persian achieved prominence in the region during the following centuries.<ref name="google2"/> Persian continued to act as a courtly language for various empires in [[Punjab region|Punjab]] through the early 19th century serving finally as the official state language of the [[Sikh Empire]], preceding [[Punjab Province (British India)|British conquest]] and the decline of Persian in South Asia.<ref name="Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition 1911 Page 892">{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Ranjit Singh |volume=22 |page=892}}</ref><ref name="Grewal112">{{cite book |last=Grewal |first=J. S. |title=The Sikhs of the Punjab, Chapter 6: The Sikh empire (1799–1849) |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1990 |series=The New Cambridge History of India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2_nryFANsoYC |isbn=0-521-63764-3 |page=112 |quote=The continuance of Persian as the language of administration. |access-date=29 July 2020 |archive-date=4 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190504204555/https://books.google.com/books?id=2_nryFANsoYC |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Fenech |first1=Louis E. |title=The Sikh Zafar-namah of Guru Gobind Singh: A Discursive Blade in the Heart of the Mughal Empire |date=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press (USA) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aUUfAQAAQBAJ&q=principal+language |isbn=978-0199931453 |page=239 |quote=We see such acquaintance clearly within the Sikh court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, for example, the principal language of which was Persian. |access-date=29 July 2020 |archive-date=1 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801142730/https://books.google.com/books?id=aUUfAQAAQBAJ&q=principal+language |url-status=live}}</ref>

Beginning in 1843, though, English and [[Hindustani language|Hindustani]] gradually replaced Persian in importance on the subcontinent.<ref>{{cite book |title=Eternal Iran |year=2004 |last=Clawson |first=Patrick |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |page=6 |isbn=1-4039-6276-6}}</ref> Evidence of Persian's historical influence there can be seen in the extent of its influence on certain languages of the Indian subcontinent. Words borrowed from Persian are still quite commonly used in certain Indo-Aryan languages, especially [[Hindi]]-[[Urdu]] (also historically known as [[Hindustani language|Hindustani]]), [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]], [[Kashmiri language|Kashmiri]], and [[Sindhi language|Sindhi]].<ref name="google4">{{cite book |title=A Panorama of Indian Culture: Professor A. Sreedhara Menon Felicitation Volume |author1=Menon, A.S. |author2=Kusuman, K.K. |date=1990 |publisher=Mittal Publications |isbn=9788170992141 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z4JqgSUSXDsC&pg=PA87 |page=87 |access-date=13 January 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180209045039/https://books.google.com/books?id=z4JqgSUSXDsC&pg=PA87 |archive-date=9 February 2018}}</ref> There is also a small population of Zoroastrian [[Irani (India)|Iranis]] in India, who migrated in the 19th century to escape religious persecution in [[Qajar dynasty|Qajar Iran]] and speak a Dari dialect.

====Contemporary Persian====

===== Qajar dynasty =====
[[File:Persische dialekte Persian dialects.png|thumb|Persian dialects]]
In the 19th century, under the [[Qajar dynasty]], the dialect that is spoken in [[Tehran]] rose to prominence. There was still substantial Arabic vocabulary, but many of these words have been integrated into Persian phonology and grammar. In addition, under the Qajar rule, numerous [[Russian language|Russian]], [[French language|French]], and English terms entered the Persian language, especially vocabulary related to technology.

The first official attentions to the necessity of protecting the Persian language against foreign words, and to the standardization of [[Persian alphabet|Persian orthography]], were under the reign of [[Naser al-Din Shah Qajar|Naser ed Din Shah]] of the [[Qajar dynasty]] in 1871.{{Citation needed|date=October 2014}} After Naser ed Din Shah, [[Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar|Mozaffar ed Din Shah]] ordered the establishment of the first Persian association in 1903.<ref name="Farhangestan"/> This association officially declared that it used Persian and [[Arabic]] as acceptable sources for coining words. The ultimate goal was to prevent books from being printed with wrong use of words. According to the executive guarantee of this association, the government was responsible for wrongfully printed books. Words coined by this association, such as ''rāh-āhan'' ({{lang|fa|راه‌آهن}}) for "railway", were printed in ''Soltani Newspaper''; but the association was eventually closed due to inattention.{{Citation needed|date=October 2014}}

A scientific association was founded in 1911, resulting in a dictionary called ''Words of Scientific Association'' ({{lang|fa|لغت انجمن علمی}}), which was completed later and renamed ''Katouzian Dictionary'' ({{lang|fa|فرهنگ کاتوزیان}}).<ref>{{cite book |title=برنامه‌ریزی زبان فارسی |publisher=روایت فتح |isbn=978-600-6128-05-4 |author=نگار داوری اردکانی |page=33 |year=1389}}</ref>

===== Pahlavi dynasty =====
{{Unreferenced section|date=November 2025}}
The first academy for the Persian language was founded on 20 May 1935, under the name ''Academy of Iran''. It was established by the initiative of [[Reza Shah Pahlavi]], and mainly by [[Hekmat E Shirazi|Hekmat e Shirazi]] and [[Mohammad Ali Foroughi]], all prominent names in the nationalist movement of the time.
The academy was a key institution in the struggle to re-build Iran as a nation-state after the collapse of the Qajar dynasty. During the 1930s and 1940s, the academy led massive campaigns to replace the many [[Arabic]], [[Russian language|Russian]], [[French language|French]], and [[Greek language|Greek]] loanwords whose widespread use in Persian during the centuries preceding the foundation of the Pahlavi dynasty had created a literary language considerably different from the spoken Persian of the time.{{cn|reason=Encyclopaedia Iranica claims the Pahlavi dynasty only attempted to replace a small number of Arabic loanwords.|date=November 2025}} This became the basis of what is now known as "Contemporary Standard Persian".

==Varieties==
There are three standard varieties of modern Persian:
*''[[Iranian Persian]]'' (''Persian'', ''Western Persian'', or ''Farsi'') is spoken in [[Iran]], and by minorities in [[Iraq]] and the [[Persian Gulf]] states.
*''[[Dari|Eastern Persian]]'' (''Dari Persian'', ''Afghan Persian'', or ''Dari'') is spoken in [[Afghanistan]].
*''[[Tajik language|Tajiki]]'' (''Tajik Persian'') is spoken in [[Tajikistan]] and [[Uzbekistan]]. It is written in the [[Cyrillic script]].

All three varieties are based on the classic Persian literature and its literary tradition. There are also several local dialects from Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan which slightly differ from the standard Persian. The [[Hazaragi dialect]] (in Afghanistan), [[Herat]]i (in Western Afghanistan), Darwazi (in Afghanistan and Tajikistan), [[Basseri dialect|Basseri]] (in Southern Iran), and the [[Tehrani accent]] (in Iran, the basis of standard Iranian Persian) are examples of these dialects. Persian-speaking peoples of Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan can understand one another with a relatively high degree of [[mutual intelligibility]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/nceeer/2005_817_17g_Beeman.pdf |title=Persian, Dari and Tajik |first=William |last=Beeman |work=[[Brown University]] |access-date=30 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025210857/http://www.ucis.pitt.edu/nceeer/2005_817_17g_Beeman.pdf |archive-date=25 October 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref> Nevertheless, the ''[[Encyclopædia Iranica]]'' notes that the Iranian, Afghan, and Tajiki varieties comprise distinct branches of the Persian language, and within each branch a wide variety of local dialects exist.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=TAJIK iii. COLLOQUIAL TAJIKI IN COMPARISON WITH PERSIAN OF IRAN |last1=Aliev |first1=Bahriddin |last2=Okawa |first2=Aya |url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/tajik-iii-colloquial |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Iranica |year=2010 |access-date=27 February 2021 |archive-date=25 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225005554/https://iranicaonline.org/articles/tajik-iii-colloquial |url-status=live}}</ref>

The following are some languages closely related to Persian, or in some cases are considered dialects:
*[[Luri language|Luri]] (or ''Lori''), spoken mainly in the southwestern Iranian provinces of [[Lorestan province|Lorestan]], [[Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province|Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad]], [[Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province|Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari]] some western parts of [[Fars province]], and some parts of [[Khuzestan province]].
*[[Achomi language|Achomi]] (or ''Lari''), spoken mainly in southern Iranian provinces of [[Fars province|Fars]] and [[Hormozgan province|Hormozgan]], unlike [[New Persian]] and its variants like [[Dari]], [[Standard Persian]], and [[Iranian Persian]], this is a branch of [[Middle Persian]].<ref name=":62">{{Cite journal |last1=Talei |first1=Maryam |last2=Rovshan |first2=Belghis |date=2024-10-24 |title=Semantic Network in Lari Language |url=https://zaban.guilan.ac.ir/article_8091.html?lang=en |url-status=live |journal=Persian Language and Iranian Dialects |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=31–61 |language=en |doi=10.22124/plid.2024.27553.1673 |issn=2476-6585 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241128033018/https://zaban.guilan.ac.ir/article_8091.html?lang=en |archive-date=2024-11-28 |quote=This descriptive-analytical research examines sense relations between the lexemes of the Lari language, the continuation of the [[Middle Persian]] and one of the endangered Iranian languages spoken in Lar, Fars province}}</ref><ref name=":7">{{Cite web |date=2024-06-16 |title=Western Iranian languages History |url=https://www.destinationiran.com/western-iranian-languages.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241128034127/https://www.destinationiran.com/western-iranian-languages.htm |archive-date=2024-11-28 |access-date=2024-11-28 |website=Destination Iran |language=en-US |quote=Achomi or Khodmooni (Larestani) is a southwestern Iranian language spoken in southern Fars province and the Ajam (non-arab) population in Persian Gulf countries such as UAE, Bahrain, and Kuwait. It is a descendant of Middle Persian and has several dialects including Lari, Evazi, Khoni, Bastaki, and more.}}</ref><ref name=":8">{{Cite journal |last1=Taherkhani |first1=Neda |last2=Ourang |first2=Muhammed |year=2013 |title=A Study of Derivational Morphemes in Lari & Tati as Two Endangered Iranian Languages: An Analytical Contrastive Examination with Persian |url=https://www.jofamericanscience.org/journals/am-sci/am0911s/008_21547am0911s_38_45.pdf |journal=Journal of American Science |issn=1545-1003 |quote=Lari is of the SW branch of Middle Iranian languages, Pahlavi, in the Middle period of Persian Language Evolution and consists of nine dialects, which are prominently different in pronunciation (Geravand, 2010).  Being a branch of Pahlavi language, Lari has several common features with it as its mother language. The ergative structure (the difference between the conjugation of transitive and intransitive verbs) existing in Lari can be mentioned as such an example. The speech community of this language includes Fars province, Hormozgan Province and some of the Arabic-speaking countries like the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Oman (Khonji, 2010, p. 15).}}</ref>
*[[Tat language (Caucasus)|Tat]], spoken in parts of Azerbaijan, Russia, and Transcaucasia. It is classified as a variety of Persian.<ref>{{harvnb|Windfuhr|1979|p=4}}: "Tat-Persian spoken in the East Caucasus"</ref><ref>V. Minorsky, "Tat" in M. Th. Houtsma et al., eds., The Encyclopædia of Islam: A Dictionary of the Geography, Ethnography and Biography of the Muhammadan Peoples, 4 vols. and Suppl., Leiden: Late E.J. Brill and London: Luzac, 1913–38.</ref><ref>V. Minorsky, "Tat" in M. Th. Houtsma et al., eds., The Encyclopædia of Islam: A Dictionary of the Geography, Ethnography and Biography of the Muhammadan Peoples, 4 vols. and Suppl., Leiden: Late E.J. Brill and London: Luzac, 1913–38. Excerpt: "Like most Persian dialects, Tati is not very regular in its characteristic features"</ref><ref>C Kerslake, Journal of Islamic Studies (2010) 21 (1): 147–151. excerpt: "It is a comparison of the verbal systems of three varieties of Persian—standard Persian, Tat, and Tajik—in terms of the 'innovations' that the latter two have developed for expressing finer differentiations of tense, aspect, and modality..." [https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=+It+is+a+comparison+of+the+verbal+systems+of+three+varieties+of+Persian%E2%80%94standard+Persian%2C+tat%2C+tajik&as_sdt=80000000000000&as_ylo=&as_vis=0] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130917055925/http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=+It+is+a+comparison+of+the+verbal+systems+of+three+varieties+of+Persian%E2%80%94standard+Persian%2C+tat%2C+tajik&as_sdt=80000000000000&as_ylo=&as_vis=0|date=17 September 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Borjian |first1=Habib |title=Tabari Language Materials from Il'ya Berezin's Recherches sur les dialectes persans |journal=Iran & the Caucasus |date=2006 |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=243–258 |doi=10.1163/157338406780346005|quote=It embraces Gilani, Talysh, Tabari, Kurdish, Gabri, and the Tati Persian of the Caucasus, all but the last belonging to the north-western group of Iranian language.}}</ref> (This dialect is not to be confused with the [[Tati language (Iran)|Tati language]] of northwestern Iran, which is a member of a different branch of the Iranian languages.)
*[[Judeo-Tat]]. Part of the Tat-Persian continuum, spoken in Azerbaijan, Russia, as well as by immigrant communities in Israel and New York.

More distantly related branches of the [[Iranian languages|Iranian language family]] include Kurdish and [[Balochi language|Balochi]].

The [[Glottolog]] database proposes the following phylogenetic classification:
{{Tree list}}
* Farsic–Caucasian Tat
** Caucasian Tat
*** [[Judeo-Tat]]
*** [[Tat language (Caucasus)|Muslim Tat]] (including Armeno-Tat)
** Farsic
*** Eastern Farsic
**** [[Aimaq dialect|Aimaq]]
**** [[Dari]]
**** [[Dehwari language|Dehwari]]
**** [[Hazaragi dialect|Hazaragi]]
**** [[Pahlavani language|Pahlavani]]
**** Tajikic
***** [[Bukharian (Judeo-Tajik dialect)|Bukharic]]
***** [[Tajik language|Tajik]]
*** [[Judeo-Persian]]
*** [[Iranian Persian|Western Farsi]]
{{Tree list/end}}

==Phonology==
{{Main|Persian phonology}}
Iranian Persian and Tajik have six vowels; Dari has eight. Iranian Persian has twenty-three consonants, but both Dari and Tajiki have twenty-four consonants, due to the phonemic merger of {{IPA|/q/}} and {{IPA|/ɣ/}} in Iranian Persian.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Vowel-system-of-Contemporary-Iranian-Persian_fig1_260510742 |title=Vowel system of Contemporary Iranian Persian |via=ResearchGate |work=Variation in Persian Vowel Systems |first1=Corey |last1=Miller |date= January 2012 |access-date=7 May 2022}}</ref>

[[File:WIKITONGUES- Daniel speaking Farsi.webm|thumb|Persian spoken by an Iranian. Recorded in the United States.]]

===Vowels===
{|
|-
| style="vertical-align:top" |
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;
|+ Tehrani Persian vowel chart
!
![[Front vowel|Front]]
![[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! [[Close vowel|Close]]
|{{IPA|{{IPA link|i}}ː}}
|{{IPA|{{IPA link|u}}ː}}
|-
! [[Mid vowel|Mid]]
|{{IPA link|e}}
|{{IPA link|o}}
|-
! [[Open vowel|Open]]
|{{IPA link|æ}}
|{{IPA|{{IPA link|ɒ}}ː}}
|}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; width:25em;"
|+
Dari vowel chart
! rowspan="2" |
! colspan="2" |[[Front vowel|Front]]
! colspan="2" | [[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
!<small>long</small>
!<small>short</small>
!<small>short</small>
!<small>long</small>
|-
! [[Close vowel|Close]]
|[[Close front unrounded vowel|iː]]
| rowspan="2" | {{IPA|{{IPA link|ɪ}} ~ ({{IPA link|ɛ}})}}
| rowspan="2" | {{IPA link|ʊ}}
| {{IPA|{{IPA link|u}}ː}}
|-
! [[mid vowel|mid]]
| {{IPA|{{IPA link|e}}ː}}
| {{IPA|{{IPA link|o}}ː}}
|-
! [[Open vowel|Open]]
|
|colspan="2" | {{IPA|{{IPA link|a}} ~ {{IPA link|ä}}}}
| {{IPA|{{IPA link|ɑ}}ː}}
|}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; width:25em;"
|+
Tajik vowel chart
! |
! [[Front vowel|Front]]
! [[Central vowel|Central]]
! [[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! [[Close vowel|Close]]
| [[Close front unrounded vowel|i]]
| rowspan="2"| {{IPA|{{IPA link|ʉ}} ~ {{IPA link|ɵ̞}}}}
| {{IPA link|u}}
|-
! [[mid vowel|mid]]
| {{IPA link|e}}
| rowspan="2" | {{IPA|{{IPA link|ɔ}}ː}}
|-
! [[open vowel|Open]]
| colspan="2" | {{IPA link|a}}
|}
|}
[[File:Farsi vowel chart.svg|thumb|right|upright=1.35|The vowel phonemes of modern Tehran Persian]]
Historically, Persian distinguished length. Early New Persian had a series of five long vowels ({{IPAslink|iː}}, {{IPAslink|uː}}, {{IPAslink|ɑː}}, {{IPAslink|oː}}, and {{IPAslink|eː}}) along with three short vowels {{IPAslink|æ}}, {{IPAslink|i}}, and {{IPAslink|u}}. At some point prior to the 16th century in the general area now modern Iran, {{IPA|/eː/}} and {{IPA|/iː/}} merged into {{IPA|/iː/}}, and {{IPA|/oː/}} and {{IPA|/uː/}} merged into {{IPA|/uː/}}. Thus, older contrasts such as {{lang|fa|شیر}} ''shēr'' "lion" vs. {{lang|fa|شیر}} ''shīr'' "milk", and {{lang|fa|زود}} ''zūd'' "quick" vs {{lang|fa|زور}} ''zōr'' "strength" were lost. However, there are exceptions to this rule, and in some words, ''ē'' and ''ō'' are merged into the diphthongs {{IPA|[eɪ]}} and {{IPA|[oʊ]}} (which are descendants of the diphthongs {{IPA|[æɪ]}} and {{IPA|[æʊ]}} in Early New Persian), instead of merging into {{IPA|/iː/}} and {{IPA|/uː/}}. Examples of the exception can be found in words such as {{lang|fa|روشن}} {{IPA|[roʊʃæn]}} (bright). Numerous other instances exist.

However, in Dari, the archaic distinction of {{IPA|/eː/}} and {{IPA|/iː/}} (respectively known as {{lang|fa|یای مجهول}} ''Yā-ye majhūl'' and {{lang|fa|یای معروف}} ''Yā-ye ma'rūf'') is still preserved as well as the distinction of {{IPA|/oː/}} and {{IPA|/uː/}} (known as {{lang|fa|واو مجهول}} ''Wāw-e majhūl'' and {{lang|fa|واو معروف}} ''Wāw-e ma'rūf''). On the other hand, in standard Tajik, the length distinction has disappeared, and {{IPA|/iː/}} merged with {{IPA|/i/}} and {{IPA|/uː/}} with {{IPA|/u/}}.{{sfn|Perry|2005}} Therefore, contemporary Afghan Dari dialects are the closest to the vowel inventory of Early New Persian.{{sfn|Okati|2012|p=93}}

According to most studies on the subject, the three vowels traditionally considered long ({{IPA|/i/}}, {{IPA|/u/}}, {{IPA|/ɒ/}}) are currently distinguished from their short counterparts ({{IPA|/e/}}, {{IPA|/o/}}, {{IPA|/æ/}}) by position of articulation rather than by length. However, there are studies that consider vowel length to be the active feature of the system, with {{IPA|/ɒ/}}, {{IPA|/i/}}, and {{IPA|/u/}} phonologically long or bimoraic and {{IPA|/æ/}}, {{IPA|/e/}}, and {{IPA|/o/}} phonologically short or monomoraic.{{sfn|Okati|2012|p=92}}

There are also some studies that consider quality and quantity to be both active in the Iranian system. That offers a synthetic analysis including both quality and quantity, which often suggests that Modern Persian vowels are in a transition state between the quantitative system of Classical Persian and a hypothetical future Iranian language, which will eliminate all traces of quantity and retain quality as the only active feature. The length distinction is still strictly observed by careful reciters of classic-style poetry.{{sfn|Okati|2012|p=92}}

===Consonants===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
!
! [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! [[Postalveolar consonant|Post-alv.]]/<br>[[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! [[Uvular consonant|Uvular]]
! [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
![[Nasal stop|Nasal]]
| {{IPA link|m}} || {{IPA link|n}} || || ||  ||
|-
![[Stop consonant|Stop]]
| {{IPA link|p}} {{IPA link|b}} || {{IPA link|t}} {{IPA link|d}} || {{IPA link|t͡ʃ}} {{IPA link|d͡ʒ}} || {{IPA link|k}} {{IPA link|ɡ}} || ({{IPA link|q}})||{{IPA link|ʔ}}
|-
![[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
| {{IPA link|f}} {{IPA link|v}} || {{IPA link|s}} {{IPA link|z}} || {{IPA link|ʃ}} {{IPA link|ʒ}} || {{IPA link|x}} {{IPA link|ɣ}}
||| {{IPA link|h}}
|-
|-
![[Tap consonant|Tap]]
| || [[Dental and alveolar flaps|ɾ]] || || || ||
|-
![[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
| || {{IPA link|l}} || {{IPA link|j}} || || ||
|-
|}
Notes:

* in [[Iranian Persian]] {{IPAslink|ɣ}} and {{IPAslink|q}} have merged into {{IPA|[{{IPA link|ɣ}}~{{IPA link|ɢ}}]}}, as a voiced velar fricative {{IPA|[ɣ]}} when positioned [[intervocalic]]ally and unstressed, and as a voiced uvular stop {{IPA|[ɢ]}} otherwise.<ref name="ipa_handbook">{{cite book |title=Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=33BSkFV_8PEC&pg=PA125 |author=International Phonetic Association |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-521-63751-0 |location=Cambridge |pages=124–125}}</ref><ref name="jahani2005">{{cite book |title=Linguistic Convergence and Areal Diffusion: Case studies from Iranian, Semitic and Turkic |last=Jahani |first=Carina |publisher=RoutledgeCurzon |year=2005 |isbn=0-415-30804-6 |editor=Éva Ágnes Csató |location=London |pages=79–96 |chapter=The Glottal Plosive: A Phoneme in Spoken Modern Persian or Not? |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qdA1K3E66UgC&pg=PA79 |editor2=Bo Isaksson |editor3=Carina Jahani}}</ref><ref name="thackston1993_phonology">{{cite book |title=An Introduction to Persian |last=Thackston |first=W. M. |date=1 May 1993 |publisher=Ibex Publishers |isbn=0-936347-29-5 |edition=3rd Rev |page=xvii |chapter=The Phonology of Persian |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontope00thac |url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontope00thac}}</ref>
* {{IPA|/n/}} is realized as {{IPAblink|ŋ}} before velar consonants.{{Citation needed|date=January 2025}}

==Grammar==
{{Main|Persian grammar}}

===Morphology===
Suffixes predominate Persian [[morphology (linguistics)|morphology]], though there are a small number of prefixes.<ref name="megerdoomian2000">{{cite conference |last=Megerdoomian |first=Karine |title=Persian computational morphology: A unification-based approach |book-title=Memoranda in Computer and Cognitive Science: MCCS-00-320 |pages=1 |year=2000 |url=http://www.zoorna.org/papers/MCCS320.pdf |access-date=9 May 2007 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130902025912/http://www.zoorna.org/papers/MCCS320.pdf |archive-date=2 September 2013}}</ref> Verbs can express tense and [[grammatical aspect|aspect]], and they agree with the subject in person and number.<ref name="mahootian1997">{{cite book |title=Persian |year=1997 |last=Mahootian |first=Shahrzad |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=0-415-02311-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DHqUjnN2_YwC&q=Mahootian+Shahrzad+1997&pg=PR1 |access-date=18 November 2020 |archive-date=10 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310172349/https://books.google.com/books?id=DHqUjnN2_YwC&q=Mahootian%20Shahrzad%201997&pg=PR1 |url-status=live}}</ref> There is no [[grammatical gender]] in modern Persian, and pronouns are not marked for [[grammatical gender#Grammatical vs. natural gender|natural gender]]. In other words, in Persian, pronouns are gender-neutral. When referring to a masculine or a feminine subject, the same pronoun {{wikt-lang|fa|او}} is used (pronounced "ou", ū).<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Yousef |first1=Saeed|last2=Torabi |first2=Hayedeh|title=Basic Persian: A Grammar and Workbook|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ssrb18kDwcMC&pg=PP1|publisher=Routledge|place=New York|date=2013|isbn=9781136283888|access-date=18 November 2020|archive-date=10 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310172943/https://books.google.com/books?id=ssrb18kDwcMC&pg=PP1|url-status=live|page=37}}</ref>

===Syntax===
Persian adheres mainly to subject–object–verb ([[Subject–object–verb word order|SOV]]) word order. But case endings (e.g. for subject, object, etc.) expressed via suffixes may allow users to vary word order. Verbs agree with the subject in person and number. Normal declarative sentences are structured as ''(S) (PP) (O) V'': sentences have optional [[subject (grammar)|subjects]], [[prepositional phrase]]s, and [[object (grammar)|objects]] followed by a compulsory [[verb]]. If the object is specific, the object is followed by the word ''rā'' and precedes prepositional phrases: ''(S) (O + ''rā'') (PP) V''.<ref name="mahootian1997"/>

==Vocabulary==
{{Main|Persian vocabulary}}

===Native word formation===
Persian makes extensive use of word building and combining affixes, stems, nouns, and adjectives. Persian frequently uses derivational [[agglutination]] to [[word formation|form new words]] from nouns, adjectives, and verbal stems. New words are extensively formed by [[compound (linguistics)|compounding]] – two existing words combining into a new one.

===Influences===
{{See also|List of English words of Persian origin|List of French loanwords in Persian|Iranian languages#Comparison table}}

While having a lesser influence from [[Arabic]]<ref name="Nushin Namazi"/> and other languages of [[Mesopotamia]] and its core vocabulary being of [[Middle Persian]] origin,<ref name="Richard Davis 2006. pp. 602-603"/> New Persian contains a considerable number of Arabic lexical items,<ref name="Lazard"/><ref name="Lazard, Gilbert 1971"/><ref name="Classe 2000 1057"/> which were Persianized<ref name=lambtonexcerpt/> and often took a different meaning and usage than the [[Arabic]] original. Persian loanwords of Arabic origin especially include [[Islam]]ic terms. The Arabic vocabulary in other Iranian, Turkic, and Indic languages is generally understood to have been copied from New Persian, not from Arabic itself.<ref>John R. Perry, "Lexical Areas and Semantic Fields of Arabic" in Éva Ágnes Csató, Eva Agnes Csato, Bo Isaksson, Carina Jahani, ''Linguistic convergence and areal diffusion: case studies from Iranian, Semitic and Turkic'', Routledge, 2005. pg 97: "It is generally understood that the bulk of the Arabic vocabulary in the central, contiguous Iranian, Turkic, and Indic languages was originally borrowed into literary Persian between the ninth and thirteenth centuries"</ref>

[[John R. Perry (orientalist)|John R. Perry]], in his article "Lexical Areas and Semantic Fields of Arabic", estimates that about 20 percent of everyday vocabulary in current Persian, and around 25 percent of the vocabulary of classical and modern Persian literature, are of Arabic origin. The text frequency of these loan words is generally lower and varies by style and topic area. It may approach 25 percent of a text in literature.<ref name="Perry">John R. Perry, "Lexical Areas and Semantic Fields of Arabic" in Éva Ágnes Csató, Eva Agnes Csato, Bo Isaksson, Carina Jahani, ''Linguistic convergence and areal diffusion: case studies from Iranian, Semitic and Turkic'', Routledge, 2005. p.97</ref> According to another source, about 40% of everyday Persian literary vocabulary is of Arabic origin.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Oxford Handbook of Arabic Linguistics |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=idoVAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA352 |last=Owens |first=Jonathan |date=2013 |publisher=OUP USA |isbn=978-0-19-976413-6 |pages=352 |language=en}}</ref> Among the Arabic loan words, relatively few (14 percent) are from the semantic domain of material culture, while a larger number are from domains of intellectual and spiritual life.{{sfn|Perry|2005|p=99}} Most of the Arabic words used in Persian are either synonyms of native terms or could be glossed in Persian.{{sfn|Perry|2005|p=99}}

The inclusion of [[Mongolic languages|Mongolic]] and [[Turkic languages|Turkic]] elements in the Persian language should also be mentioned,<ref>e.g. The role of Azeri–Turkish in Iranian Persian, on which see John Perry, "The Historical Role of Turkish in Relation to Persian of Iran", ''Iran & the Caucasus'', Vol. 5 (2001), pp. 193–200.</ref> not only because of the political role a succession of Turkic dynasties played in Iranian history, but also because of the immense prestige Persian language and literature enjoyed in the wider (non-Arab) Islamic world, which was often ruled by sultans and emirs with a Turkic background. The Turkish and Mongolian vocabulary in Persian is minor in comparison to that of Arabic and these words were mainly confined to military, pastoral terms and political sector (titles, administration, etc.).<ref>Xavier Planhol, "Land of Iran", ''Encyclopedia Iranica''. "The Turks, on the other hand, posed a formidable threat: their penetration into Iranian lands was considerable, to such an extent that vast regions adapted their language. This process was all the more remarkable since, in spite of their almost uninterrupted political domination for nearly 1,500 years, the cultural influence of these rough nomads on Iran's refined civilization remained extremely tenuous. This is demonstrated by the mediocre linguistic contribution, for which exhaustive statistical studies have been made (Doerfer). The number of Turkish or Mongol words that entered Persian, though not negligible, remained limited to 2,135, i.e., 3 percent of the vocabulary at the most. These new words are confined on the one hand to the military and political sector (titles, administration, etc.) and, on the other hand, to technical pastoral terms. The contrast with Arab influence is striking. While cultural pressure of the Arabs on Iran had been intense, they in no way infringed upon the entire Iranian territory, whereas with the Turks, whose contributions to Iranian civilization were modest, vast regions of Iranian lands were assimilated, notwithstanding the fact that resistance by the latter was ultimately victorious. Several reasons may be offered."</ref> New military and political titles were coined based partially on Middle Persian (e.g. {{lang|fa|ارتش}} {{Transliteration|fa|arteš}} for "army", instead of the Uzbek {{lang|fa|قؤشین}} {{Transliteration|fa|qoʻshin}}; {{lang|fa|سرلشکر}} {{Transliteration|fa|sarlaškar}}; {{lang|fa|دریابان}} {{Transliteration|fa|daryābān}}; etc.) in the 20th century. Persian has likewise influenced the vocabularies of other languages, especially other [[Indo-European languages]] such as [[Armenian language|Armenian]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/armenia-iv |title=ARMENIA AND IRAN iv. Iranian influences in Armenian Language |access-date=2 January 2015 |archive-date=17 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171117011150/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/armenia-iv |url-status=live}}</ref> Urdu, Bengali, and Hindi; the latter three through conquests of Persianized Central Asian Turkic and Afghan invaders;<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EQJHAQAAQBAJ&q=ghaznavids+brought+persian+to+south+asia&pg=PA18 |title=South Asian Sufis: Devotion, Deviation, and Destiny |access-date=23 April 2015 |isbn=9781441151278 |last1=Bennett |first1=Clinton |last2=Ramsey |first2=Charles M. |date=March 2012 |publisher=A&C Black |archive-date=10 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310172351/https://books.google.com/books?id=EQJHAQAAQBAJ&q=ghaznavids+brought+persian+to+south+asia&pg=PA18 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Turkic languages]] such as [[Ottoman Turkish language|Ottoman Turkish]], [[Chagatai language|Chagatai]], [[Tatar language|Tatar]], [[Turkish language|Turkish]],<ref>[http://www.azargoshnasp.net/languages/Persian/persianloanwordsistanbulturkish.pdf Andreas Tietze, Persian loanwords in Anatolian Turkish, Oriens, 20 (1967) pp- 125–168.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070911213846/http://www.azargoshnasp.net/languages/Persian/persianloanwordsistanbulturkish.pdf |date=11 September 2007}} (accessed August 2016)</ref> [[Turkmen language|Turkmen]], [[Azerbaijani language|Azeri]],<ref>L. Johanson, "Azerbaijan: Iranian Elements in Azeri Turkish" in [[Encyclopedia Iranica]] {{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20090412050047/http://www.iranica.com/newsite/index.isc?Article=http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/unicode/v3f2/v3f2a088.html Iranica.com]}}</ref> [[Uzbek language|Uzbek]], and [[Karachay-Balkar language|Karachay-Balkar]];<ref name="Compendium of the World Languages">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DWAqAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA832 |title=Compendium of the World Languages |publisher=Routledge |year=2013 |author1=George L. Campbell |author2=Gareth King |isbn=978-1-136-25846-6 |access-date=23 May 2014 |archive-date=27 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150927194246/https://books.google.com/books?id=DWAqAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA832 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Languages of the Caucasus|Caucasian languages]] such as [[Georgian language|Georgian]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/georgia-v- |title=Georgia v. Linguistic Contacts With Iranian Languages |access-date=2 January 2015 |archive-date=18 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210318211801/https://iranicaonline.org/articles/georgia-v- |url-status=live}}</ref> and, to a lesser extent, [[Avar language|Avar]] and [[Lezgin language|Lezgin]];<ref>{{cite web |url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/dagestan |title=DAGESTAN |access-date=2 January 2014 |archive-date=29 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429175746/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/dagestan |url-status=live}}</ref> Afro-Asiatic languages like [[Assyrian Neo-Aramaic|Assyrian]] ([[List of loanwords in Assyrian Neo-Aramaic]]) and [[Arabic]], particularly [[Bahrani Arabic]];<ref name=Holes2001/><ref>{{cite web |author=Pasad |url=http://www.bashgah.net/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=23845 |title=Bashgah.net |publisher=Bashgah.net |access-date=13 July 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723023057/http://www.bashgah.net/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=23845 |archive-date=23 July 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> and even [[Dravidian languages]] indirectly especially [[Malayalam]], [[Tamil language|Tamil]], [[Telugu language|Telugu]], and [[Brahui language|Brahui]]; as well as [[Austronesian languages]] such as [[Indonesian language|Indonesian]] and [[Malaysian language|Malaysian]] [[Malay language|Malay]].<!--Indonesian is within the Malay family as defined by Nothofer, Bernd (2009). "Malay". In Brown, Keith; Ogilvie, Sarah (eds.). Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World p. 678--> Persian has also had a significant lexical influence, via Turkish, on [[Albanian language|Albanian]] and [[Serbo-Croatian]], particularly as spoken in [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]].

Use of occasional foreign synonyms instead of Persian words can be a common practice in everyday communications as an alternative expression. In some instances in addition to the Persian vocabulary, the equivalent synonyms from multiple foreign languages can be used. For example, in Iranian colloquial Persian (not in Afghanistan or Tajikistan), the phrase "thank you" may be expressed using the French word {{lang|fa|مرسی}} {{lang|fr-IR|merci}} (stressed, however, on the first syllable), the hybrid Persian-Arabic phrase {{lang|fa|متشکّرَم}} {{Transliteration|fa|motešakkeram}} ({{lang|ar|متشکّر}} {{Transliteration|ar|motešakker}} being "thankful" in Arabic, commonly pronounced {{Transliteration|fa|moččakker}} in Persian, and the verb {{lang|fa|ـَم}} ''am'' meaning "I am" in Persian), or by the pure Persian phrase {{lang|fa|سپاسگزارم}} {{Transliteration|fa|sepās-gozāram}}.

==Orthography==
[[File:Persian Nastaʿlīq's proportions.jpg|thumb|right|Example showing Nastaʿlīq's (Persian) proportion rules{{sfn|Smith|1989}}{{citation not found|date=November 2022}}]]
[[File:Dehkhoda note.jpg|thumb|right|[[Ali-Akbar Dehkhoda]]'s personal handwriting, a typical [[cursive]] Persian script]]
[[File:The word Persian in Pahlavi script.png|thumb|right|The word "Persian" in the [[Book Pahlavi]] script]]

The vast majority of modern Iranian Persian and Dari text is written with the [[Arabic script]]. Tajiki, which is considered by some linguists to be a Persian dialect influenced by [[Russian language|Russian]] and the [[Turkic languages]] of [[Central Asia]],{{sfn|Perry|2005}}<ref name="lazard1956">{{cite journal |title=Charactères distinctifs de la langue Tadjik |year=1956 |last=Lazard |first=Gilbert |journal=Bulletin de la Société Linguistique de Paris |volume=52 |pages=117–186}}</ref> is written with the [[Cyrillic script]] in [[Tajikistan]] (see [[Tajik alphabet]]). There also exist several [[romanization of Persian|romanization systems for Persian]].

===Persian alphabet===
{{Main|Persian alphabet}}

Modern Iranian Persian and Afghan Persian are written using the [[Persian alphabet]], which is a modified variant of the [[Arabic alphabet]], using different pronunciation and additional letters not found in the Arabic language. After the [[Muslim conquest of Persia|Arab conquest of Persia]], it took approximately 200 years before Persians adopted the Arabic script in place of the older alphabet. Previously, two different scripts were used, [[Pahlavi scripts|Pahlavi]], used for Middle Persian, and the [[Avestan alphabet]] (in Persian, Dīndapirak, or Din Dabire—literally: religion script), used for religious purposes, primarily for the [[Avestan]] but sometimes for Middle Persian.

In the modern Persian script, [[vowel length|historically short vowels]] are usually not written, only the historically long ones are represented in the text, so words distinguished from each other only by short vowels are ambiguous in writing: Iranian Persian ''{{Transliteration|fa|kerm}}'' "worm", ''{{Transliteration|fa|karam}}'' "generosity", ''{{Transliteration|fa|kerem}}'' "cream", and ''{{Transliteration|fa|krom}}'' "chrome" are all spelled ''{{Transliteration|fa|krm}}'' ({{lang|fa|کرم}}) in Persian. The reader must determine the word from context. The Arabic system of vocalization marks known as ''[[harakat]]'' is also used in Persian, although some of the symbols have different pronunciations. For example, a ''[[ḍammah]]'' is pronounced {{IPA|[ʊ~u]}}, while in Iranian Persian it is pronounced {{IPA|[o]}}. This system is not used in mainstream Persian literature; it is primarily used for teaching and in some (but not all) dictionaries.
[[File:Persian typewriter keyboard layout.svg|thumb|Persian typewriter keyboard layout]]
[[File:Persian keyboard layout, unshifted.gif|thumb|right|A variant of the Iranian standard ISIRI 9147 keyboard layout for Persian]]
There are several letters generally only used in Arabic loanwords. These letters are pronounced the same as similar Persian letters. For example, there are four functionally identical letters for {{IPAslink|z}} ({{lang|fa|ز ذ ض ظ}}), three letters for {{IPAslink|s}} ({{lang|fa|س ص ث}}), two letters for {{IPAslink|t}} ({{lang|fa|ط ت}}), two letters for {{IPAslink|h}} ({{lang|fa|ح ه}}).
On the other hand, there are four letters that do not exist in Arabic {{lang|fa| پ چ ژ گ}}.

====Additions====
The [[Persian alphabet]] adds four letters to the Arabic alphabet:

{| class="wikitable" style="line-height:1.6;text-align:center"
! Sound
! Isolated form
! Final form
! Medial form
! Initial form
! Name
|-
| style="font-size: 1.25em;" | {{IPA|/p/}}
| style="font-size: 2em;" | {{lang|fa|پ}}
| style="font-size: 2em;" | {{lang|fa|ـپ}}
| style="font-size: 2em;" | {{lang|fa|ـپـ}}
| style="font-size: 2em;" | {{lang|fa|پـ}}
| ''pe''
|-
| style="font-size: 1.25em;" | {{IPA|/tʃ/}}
| style="font-size: 2em;" | {{lang|fa|چ}}
| style="font-size: 2em;" | {{lang|fa|ـچ}}
| style="font-size: 2em;" | {{lang|fa|ـچـ}}
| style="font-size: 2em;" | {{lang|fa|چـ}}
| ''če (che)''
|-
| style="font-size: 1.25em;" | {{IPA|/ʒ/}}
| style="font-size: 2em;" | {{lang|fa|ژ}}
| style="font-size: 2em;" | {{lang|fa|ـژ}}
| style="font-size: 2em; color: #aaa;" | {{lang|fa|ـژ}}
| style="font-size: 2em; color: #aaa;" | {{lang|fa|ژ}}
| ''že (zhe or jhe)''
|-
| style="font-size: 1.25em;" | {{IPA|/ɡ/}}
| style="font-size: 2em;" | {{lang|fa|گ}}
| style="font-size: 2em;" | {{lang|fa|ـگ}}
| style="font-size: 2em;" | {{lang|fa|ـگـ}}
| style="font-size: 2em;" | {{lang|fa|گـ}}
| ''ge (gāf)''
|}

Historically, there was also a special letter for the sound {{IPA|/β/}}. This letter is no longer used, as the {{IPA|/β/}}-sound changed to {{IPA|/b/}}, e.g. archaic {{lang|fa|زڤان}} {{IPA|/zaβaːn/}} > {{lang|fa|زبان}} {{IPA|/zæbɒn/}} 'language'<ref>{{cite web |url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/persian-language-1-early-new-persian |title=PERSIAN LANGUAGE i. Early New Persian |work=Iranica Online |access-date=18 March 2019 |archive-date=17 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190317184538/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/persian-language-1-early-new-persian |url-status=live}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="line-height:1.6;text-align:center"
! Sound
! Isolated form
! Final form
! Medial form
! Initial form
! Name
|-
| style="font-size: 1.25em;" | {{IPA|/β/}}
| style="font-size: 2em;" | {{lang|fa|ڤ}}
| style="font-size: 2em;" | {{lang|fa|ـڤ}}
| style="font-size: 2em;" | {{lang|fa|ـڤـ}}
| style="font-size: 2em;" | {{lang|fa|ڤـ}}
| ''βe''
|}

====Variations====
The Persian alphabet also modifies some letters of the Arabic alphabet. For example, ''alef with hamza below'' ( {{lang|ar|إ}} ) changes to ''[[aleph|alef]]'' ( {{lang|fa|ا}} ); words using various [[hamza]]s get spelled with yet another kind of hamza (so that {{lang|fa|مسؤول}} becomes {{lang|fa|مسئول}}) even though the latter has been accepted in Arabic since the 1980s; and ''[[teh marbuta]]'' ( {{lang|ar|ة}} ) changes to ''[[he (letter)|heh]]'' ( {{lang|fa|ه}} ) or ''[[taw (letter)|teh]]'' ( {{lang|fa|ت}} ).

The letters different in shape are:

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto; text-align:center;"
! Arabic style letter
! Persian style letter
! Name
|-
|style="font-size: 160%"| ك
|style="font-size: 160%"| ک
| ''ke'' (kāf)
|-
|style="font-size: 160%"| ي
|style="font-size: 160%"| ی
| ''ye''
|}

However, {{lang|ar|ی}} in shape and form is the traditional Arabic style that continues in the Nile Valley, namely, [[Egyptian Arabic|Egypt]], [[Sudanese Arabic|Sudan]], and [[Juba Arabic|South Sudan]].

===Latin alphabet===
{{Main|Romanization of Persian}}

The [[International Organization for Standardization]] has published a standard for simplified [[transliteration]] of Persian into Latin, ISO 233-3, titled "Information and documentation – Transliteration of Arabic characters into Latin characters – Part 3: Persian language – Simplified transliteration"<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.iso.org/standard/2398.html |title=ISO 233-3:1999 |publisher=International Organization for Standardization |date=14 May 2010 |access-date=13 July 2010 |archive-date=6 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606144437/http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=2398 |url-status=live}}</ref> but the transliteration scheme is not in widespread use.

Another Latin alphabet, based on the [[Yañalif|New Turkic Alphabet]], was used in [[Tajikistan]] in the 1920s and 1930s. The alphabet was phased out in favor of [[Tajik Cyrillic alphabet|Cyrillic]] in the late 1930s.{{sfn|Perry|2005}}

[[Fingilish]] is Persian using [[ISO basic Latin alphabet]]. It is most commonly used in [[online chat|chat]], [[email]]s, and [[Short Message Service|SMS]] applications. The orthography is not standardized, and varies among writers and even media (for example, typing 'aa' for the {{IPA|[ɒ]}} phoneme is easier on computer keyboards than on cellphone keyboards, resulting in smaller usage of the combination on cellphones).

===Tajik alphabet===
{{Main|Tajik alphabet}}The Cyrillic script was introduced for writing the [[Tajik language]] under the [[Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic]] in the late 1930s, replacing the [[Tajik alphabet#Transliteration standards|Latin alphabet]] that had been used since the [[October Revolution]] and the Persian script that had been used earlier. After 1939, materials published in Persian in the Persian script were banned in the country.{{sfn|Perry|2005}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Smallwars.quantico.usmc.mil |url=http://www.smallwars.quantico.usmc.mil/search/LessonsLearned/afghanistan/groundcombat.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100122154531/http://www.smallwars.quantico.usmc.mil/search/LessonsLearned/afghanistan/groundcombat.asp |archive-date=22 January 2010 |access-date=13 December 2012}}</ref>[[File:Akademijai ilmxhoi jumxhurii tojikiston.jpg|thumb|right|Tajiki advertisement for an academy]]

==Examples==
The following text is from Article 1 of the [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]].

<div class="overflowbugx" style="overflow-x:auto;">
{| class="wikitable"
! Iranian Persian ([[Nastaʿlīq]])
| dir="rtl" | {{lang|fa|{{nq|همه‌ی افراد بشر آزاد به دنیا می‌آیند و حیثیت و حقوق‌شان با هم برابر است، همه اندیشه و وجدان دارند و باید در برابر یکدیگر با روح برادری رفتار کنند.}}}}
|-
! Iranian Persian ([[Naskh (script)|Naskh]])
| dir="rtl" | {{lang|fa|{{Script/Arabic|همه‌ی افراد بشر آزاد به دنیا می‌آیند و حیثیت و حقوق‌شان با هم برابر است، همه اندیشه و وجدان دارند و باید در برابر یکدیگر با روح برادری رفتار کنند.}}}}
|-
! Iranian Persian<br/>transliteration
| ''{{Transliteration|fa|Hame-ye afrād-e bashar āzād be donyā mi āyand o heysiyat o hoquq-e shān bā ham barābar ast, hame andishe o vejdān dārand o bāyad dar barābare yekdigar bā ruh-e barādari raftār konand.}}''
|-
! Iranian Persian [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]]
| {{IPA|[hæmeje æfrɒde bæʃær ɒzɒd be donjɒ miɒjænd o hejsijæt o hoɢuɢe ʃɒn bɒ hæm bærɒbær æst hæme ʃɒn ændiʃe o vedʒdɒn dɒrænd o bɒjæd dær bærɒbære jekdiɡær bɒ ruhe bærɒdæri ræftɒr konænd]}}
|-
! Tajiki
| {{lang|tg-Cyrl|Ҳамаи афроди башар озод ба дунё меоянд ва ҳайсияту ҳуқуқашон бо ҳам баробар аст, ҳамаашон андешаву виҷдон доранд ва бояд дар баробари якдигар бо рӯҳи бародарӣ рафтор кунанд.}}
|-
! Tajiki<br/>transliteration
| ''{{Transliteration|tg|Hamai afrodi bashar ozod ba dunjo meoyand va haysiyatu huquqashon bo ham barobar ast, hamaashon andeshavu vijdon dorand va boyad dar barobari yakdigar bo rūhi barodarī raftor kunand.}}''
|-
! English translation
|All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act toward one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
|}
</div>

==See also==
* [[Academy of Persian Language and Literature]]
* [[Indo-European copula]]
* [[Iranian languages]]
* [[Iranian Persian]], Western Persian
* [[List of countries and territories where Persian is an official language]]
* [[List of English words of Persian origin]]
* [[List of French loanwords in Persian]]
* [[Middle Persian]]
* [[Parthian language]]
* [[Persian Braille]]
* [[Persian metres]]
* [[Persian name]]
* [[Romanization of Persian]]
* [[List of lingua francas|List of link languages]]
* [[Dialect continuum]]
* [[Geolinguistics]]
* [[Language geography]]

==Citations==
{{Reflist}}
== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

==Works cited==
* {{cite book |last=Frye |first=Richard Nelson |title=Handbuch der Altertumswissenschaft: Alter Orient-Griechische Geschichte-Römische Geschichte. Band III,7: The History of Ancient Iran |publisher=C.H. Beck |year=1984 |isbn=978-3-406-09397-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofancient0000frye}}
* {{cite book |last=Kuhrt |first=A. |title=The Persian Empire: A Corpus of Sources from the Achaemenid Period |publisher=Routledge |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-136-01694-3}}
* {{The Cambridge History of Iran |volume=4 |last=Lazard |first=G. |chapter=The Rise of the New Persian Language |pages=595–633}}
* {{cite book|last=Perry |first=John R. |year=2005 |title=A Tajik Persian Reference Grammar: Handbook of Oriental Studies |volume=2  |location=Boston |publisher=Brill |isbn=90-04-14323-8}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Perry |first=John R. |date=2011 |title=Persian |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics |publisher=Brill Online |editor1-last=Edzard |editor1-first=Lutz |editor2-last=de Jong |editor2-first=Rudolf |url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-arabic-language-and-linguistics/persian-EALL_COM_vol3_0253}}
* {{cite book |last=Schmitt |first=Rüdiger |title=The Old Persian Inscriptions of Naqsh-i Rustam and Persepolis |publisher=Corpus Inscriptionum Iranicarum by School of Oriental and African Studies |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-7286-0314-1}}
* {{cite encyclopedia
|last=Skjærvø
|first=Prods Oktor
|title=Iran, vi. Iranian languages and scripts
|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Iranica
|year=2006
|volume=XIII
|ref=none
}}
* {{cite book |last=Spuler |first=Bertold |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rD1vvympVtsC |title=Persian Historiography and Geography: Bertold Spuler on Major Works Produced in Iran, the Caucasus, Central Asia, India, and Early Ottoman Turkey |publisher=Pustaka Nasional Pte Ltd |year=2003 |isbn=978-9971774882}}
* {{cite book |last=Windfuhr |first=Gernot |year=1979 |title=Persian Grammar: history and state of its study |publisher=Walter de Gruyter}}
* {{cite book |last1=Okati |first1=Farideh |title=The Vowel Systems of Five Iranian Balochi Dialects |date=2012 |location=Sweden |isbn=978-91-554-8536-8 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/292972287 |access-date=2 April 2025}}
*Windfuhr, Gernot. Persian grammar: History and state of its study. Vol. 12. Walter de Gruyter, 1979.

==General references==
* {{Encyclopaedia of Islam, New Edition |last1=Bosworth |first1=C. E. |last2=Crowe |first2=Yolande |volume=8 |title=Sāmānids |url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/samanids-COM_0995}}
* {{Encyclopaedia Iranica |last=Bosworth |first=C. E. |title=Esmāʿīl, b. Aḥmad b. Asad Sāmānī, Abū Ebrāhīm |url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/esmail-b-ahmad-b-asad-samani |volume=8 |fascicle=6 |pages=636–637}}
* {{cite book |last=Crone |first=Patricia |title=The Nativist Prophets of Early Islamic Iran: Rural Revolt and Local Zoroastrianism |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-1107642386 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7k0hAwAAQBAJ&q=false}}
* {{cite book |last=de Blois |first=Francois |title=Persian Literature – A Bio-Bibliographical Survey: Poetry of the Pre-Mongol Period (Volume V) |year=2004 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0947593476}}
* {{Encyclopaedia of Islam, New Edition |last1=de Bruijn |first1=J.T.P. |volume=4 |title=Iran, vii.—Literature |pages=52–75 |url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/iran-COM_0377}}
* {{Encyclopaedia Iranica |volume=13 |fascicle=3 |last=Frye |first=R. N. |title=Iran v. Peoples of Iran (1) A General Survey |url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/iran-v1-peoples-survey |pages=321–326}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Jeremiás |first=Éva |date=2011 |title=Iran |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics |publisher=Brill Online |editor1-last=Edzard |editor1-first=Lutz |editor2-last=de Jong |editor2-first=Rudolf |url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-arabic-language-and-linguistics/iran-EALL_COM_vol2_0055}}
* {{Encyclopaedia Iranica |volume=7 |fascicle=1 |last=Lazard |first=G. |title=Darī |url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/dari |pages=34–35}}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Litvinsky |editor-first=B. A. |title=History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The crossroads of civilizations, A.D. 250 to 750 |year=1996 |publisher=UNESCO |isbn=9789231032110 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=883OZBe2sMYC&q=Divashtich}}
* {{cite book |last=Rypka |first=Jan |authorlink=Jan Rypka |title=History of Iranian Literature |year=1968 |publisher=Springer Netherlands |isbn=978-9401034814}}

==Further reading==
{{Refbegin|25em}}
* {{cite book |last=Asatrian |first=Garnik |title=Etymological Dictionary of Persian |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill Academic Publishers]] |series=[[Indo-European Etymological Dictionary|Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series, 12]] |year=2010 |isbn=978-90-04-18341-4 |url=http://www.brill.nl/default.aspx?partid=227&pid=23589 |access-date=23 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101227154324/http://brill.nl/default.aspx?partid=227 |archive-date=27 December 2010 |url-status=dead}}
* {{cite book |last=Bleeck |first=Arthur Henry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vroOAAAAQAAJ |title=A concise grammar of the Persian language |year=1857 |edition=Oxford University |access-date=6 July 2011 |archive-date=10 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310172906/https://books.google.com/books?id=vroOAAAAQAAJ |url-status=live}}
* {{cite book |last=Dahlén |first=Ashk |title=Modern persisk grammatik |publisher=Ferdosi International Publication |date=April 2014 |isbn=9789197988674 |edition=2nd |orig-year=1st edition October 2010 |url=http://www.ashkdahlen.com/index.php?id=152 |access-date=18 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011020855/http://www.ashkdahlen.com/index.php?id=152 |archive-date=11 October 2017 |url-status=usurped}}
* {{cite book |last=Delshad |first=Farshid |date=September 2007 |title=Anthologia Persica |publisher=Logos Verlag |isbn=978-3-8325-1620-8}}
* {{cite book |last=Doctor |first=Sorabshaw Byramji |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I0MOAAAAQAAJ |title=The student's Persian and English dictionary, pronouncing, etymological, & explanatory |year=1880 |publisher=Irish Presbyterian Mission Press |page=558 |access-date=6 July 2011 |archive-date=23 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160723202830/https://books.google.com/books?id=i0MOAAAAQAAJ |url-status=live}}
* {{cite book |last=Doctor |first=Sorabshaw Byramji |author2-last=Saʻdī |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xUUOAAAAQAAJ |title=Second book of Persian, to which are added the Pandnámah of Shaikh Saádi and the Gulistán, chapter 1, together with vocabulary and short notes |year=1880 |publisher=Irish Presbyterian Mission Press |edition=2 |page=120 |access-date=6 July 2011 |archive-date=10 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310173200/https://books.google.com/books?id=xUUOAAAAQAAJ |url-status=live}}
* {{cite book |last=Doctor |first=Sorabshaw Byramji |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NEMOAAAAQAAJ |title=The Persian primer, being an elementary treatise on grammar, with exercises |year=1879 |publisher=Irish Presbyterian Mission Press |page=94 |access-date=6 July 2011 |archive-date=10 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310171629/https://books.google.com/books?id=NEMOAAAAQAAJ |url-status=live}}
* {{cite book |last=Doctor |first=Sorabshaw Byramji |url=https://archive.org/details/anewgrammarpers00doctgoog |title=A new grammar of the Persian tongue for the use of schools and colleges |year=1875 |publisher=Irish Presbyterian Mission Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/anewgrammarpers00doctgoog/page/n94 84] |access-date=6 July 2011}}
* {{cite book |last=Forbes |first=Duncan |url=https://archive.org/details/agrammarpersian00lagoog |title=A grammar of the Persian language: To which is added, a selection of easy extracts for reading, together with a copious vocabulary |year=1844 |publisher=Printed for the author, sold by Allen & co. |edition=2nd |page=114 & 158 |access-date=6 July 2011}}
* {{cite book |last=Forbes |first=Duncan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BDoMAAAAYAAJ |title=A grammar of the Persian language: to which is added, a selection of easy extracts for reading, together with a vocabulary, and translations |year=1869 |publisher=Wm. H. Allen & Co. |edition=4th |page=238 |access-date=6 July 2011 |archive-date=10 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310171635/https://books.google.com/books?id=BDoMAAAAYAAJ |url-status=live}}
* {{cite book |last=Forbes |first=Duncan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DoRQAAAAYAAJ |title=A grammar of the Persian language: to which is added, a selection of easy extracts for reading, together with a vocabulary, and translations |year=1876 |publisher=W.H. Allen |page=238 |access-date=6 July 2011 |archive-date=10 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310173105/https://books.google.com/books?id=DoRQAAAAYAAJ |url-status=live}}
* {{cite book |last=Ibrâhîm |first=Muḥammad |url=https://archive.org/details/agrammarpersian00ibrgoog |title=A grammar of the Persian language |year=1841 |access-date=6 July 2011}}
* {{cite book |last=Jones |first=Sir William |author-link=William Jones (philologist) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YkBbAAAAQAAJ |title=A grammar of the Persian language |year=1783 |edition=3 |access-date=6 July 2011 |archive-date=10 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310172942/https://books.google.com/books?id=YkBbAAAAQAAJ |url-status=live}}
* {{cite book |last=Jones |first=Sir William |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3T9bAAAAQAAJ |title=A grammar of the Persian language |year=1797 |edition=4 |access-date=6 July 2011 |archive-date=10 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310172907/https://books.google.com/books?id=3T9bAAAAQAAJ |url-status=live}}
* {{cite book |last=Jones |first=Sir William |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IEhFAQAAIAAJ |title=A grammar of the Persian language |year=1801 |publisher=Murray and Highley, J. Sewell |edition=5 |page=194 |access-date=6 July 2011 |archive-date=10 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310173228/https://books.google.com/books?id=IEhFAQAAIAAJ |url-status=live}}
* {{cite book |last=Jones |first=Sir William |editor=Samuel Lee |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_p4dBAAAAYAAJ |title=A grammar of the Persian language |year=1823 |publisher=Printed by W. Nicol, for Parbury, Allen, and co. |edition=8 |page=230 |access-date=6 July 2011}}
* {{cite book |last=Jones |first=Sir William |url=https://archive.org/details/agrammarpersian01jonegoog |title=A grammar of the Persian language |editor=Samuel Lee |year=1828 |publisher=Printed by W. Nicol, for Parbury, Allen, and Co. |edition=9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/agrammarpersian01jonegoog/page/n316 283] |access-date=6 July 2011}}
* {{cite book |last=Lazard |first=Gilbert |title=Grammaire du persan contemporain |publisher=Institut Français de Recherche en Iran |date=January 2006 |isbn=978-2909961378 |url=http://www.peeters-leuven.be/boekoverz.asp?nr=8392 |access-date=18 February 2011 |archive-date=3 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120503214743/http://www.peeters-leuven.be/boekoverz.asp?nr=8392 |url-status=dead}}
* {{cite book |last=Lumsden |first=Matthew |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a7dIAAAAcAAJ |title=A grammar of the Persian language; comprising a portion of the elements of Arabic inflexion [etc.] |year=1810 |place=Calcutta |publisher=T. Watley |volume=2 |access-date=6 July 2011 |archive-date=10 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310172641/https://books.google.com/books?id=a7dIAAAAcAAJ |url-status=live}}
* {{cite book |edition=illustrated |publisher=RoutledgeCurzon |isbn=0-7007-1695-5 |last=Mace |first=John |title=Persian Grammar: For Reference and Revision |date=18 October 2002}}
* {{cite book |last=Moises |first=Edward |year=1792 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O3lHAAAAYAAJ |title=The Persian interpreter: in three parts: A grammar of the Persian language. Persian extracts, in prose and verse. A vocabulary: Persian and English |publisher=Printed by L. Hodgson |page=143 |access-date=6 July 2011 |archive-date=10 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310172353/https://books.google.com/books?id=O3lHAAAAYAAJ |url-status=live}}
* {{cite book |last=Palmer |first=Edward Henry |author-link=Edward Henry Palmer |title=A concise dictionary, English-Persian: together with a simplified grammar of the Persian language |url=https://archive.org/details/aconcisediction00stragoog |editor=Guy Le Strange |year=1883 |publisher=Trübner & Co. |page=[https://archive.org/details/aconcisediction00stragoog/page/n60 42] |place=London |access-date=6 July 2011}}
* {{cite book |last=Platts |first=John Thompson |year=1894 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pxKkZZgJxcwC |title=A grammar of the Persian language ... |volume=Part I.—Accidence |place=London & Edinburgh |publisher=Williams and Norgate |access-date=6 July 2011 |archive-date=10 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310172644/https://books.google.com/books?id=pxKkZZgJxcwC |url-status=live}}
* {{cite book |last=Ranking |first=George Speirs Alexander |url=https://archive.org/details/aprimerpersianc00rankgoog |title=A primer of Persian: containing selections for reading and composition with the elements of syntax |year=1907 |publisher=The Clarendon Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/aprimerpersianc00rankgoog/page/n76 72] |access-date=6 July 2011}}
* {{cite book |last=Richardson |first=John |url=https://archive.org/details/avocabularypers00richgoog |title=A vocabulary, Persian, Arabic, and English: abridged from the quarto edition of Richardson's dictionary |editor=Sir Charles Wilkins |editor2=David Hopkins |year=1810 |publisher=Printed for F. and C. Rivingson |page=[https://archive.org/details/avocabularypers00richgoog/page/n657 643] |access-date=6 July 2011}}
* {{cite book |last=Rosen |first=Friedrich |author2-last=Nāṣir al-Dīn Shāh (Shah of Iran) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Exb_NBfBuZkC |title=Modern Persian colloquial grammar: containing a short grammar, dialogues and extracts from Nasir-Eddin shah's diaries, tales, etc., and a vocabulary |year=1898 |publisher=Luzac & C.̊ |page=400 |access-date=6 July 2011 |archive-date=10 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310172355/https://books.google.com/books?id=Exb_NBfBuZkC |url-status=live}}
* {{cite book |last=Schmitt |first=Rüdiger |year=1989 |title=Compendium linguarum Iranicarum |publisher=L. Reichert |isbn=3-88226-413-6}}
* {{cite book |last=Sen |first=Ramdhun |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3T1bAAAAQAAJ |title=A dictionary in Persian and English, with pronunciation (ed. by M.C. Sen). |editor=Madhub Chunder Sen |year=1841 |edition=2 |access-date=6 July 2011 |archive-date=3 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130403163033/http://books.google.com/books?id=3T1bAAAAQAAJ |url-status=live}}
* {{cite book |last=Sen |first=Ramdhun |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RJAvAAAAYAAJ |title=A dictionary in Persian and English |year=1829 |publisher=Printed for the author at the Baptist Mission Press |page=226 |access-date=6 July 2011 |archive-date=10 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310173126/https://books.google.com/books?id=RJAvAAAAYAAJ |url-status=live}}
* {{cite book |last=Sen |first=Ramdhun |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sk4OAAAAQAAJ |title=A dictionary in English and Persian |year=1833 |publisher=Printed at the Baptist Mission Press |page=276 |access-date=6 July 2011 |archive-date=3 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201203005729/https://books.google.com/books?id=sk4OAAAAQAAJ |url-status=live}}
* {{cite book |last=Sen |first=Ramdhun |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6j1bAAAAQAAJ |title=A dictionary in English and Persian |year=1833 |access-date=6 July 2011 |archive-date=10 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310172352/https://books.google.com/books?id=6j1bAAAAQAAJ |url-status=live}}
*{{cite book
| last=Thackston
| first=W. M.
| title=An Introduction to Persian
| edition=3rd Rev
| publisher=Ibex Publishers
| isbn=0-936347-29-5
| date=1 May 1993
| url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontope00thac
}}
* {{cite book |last=Tucker |first=William Thornhill |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wT5bAAAAQAAJ |title=A pocket dictionary of English and Persian |year=1801 |access-date=6 July 2011 |archive-date=3 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130403200810/http://books.google.com/books?id=wT5bAAAAQAAJ |url-status=live}}
* {{cite book |last=Tucker |first=William Thornhill |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.bengal.10689.19273 |title=A pocket dictionary of English and Persian |year=1850 |publisher=J. Madden |page=145 |access-date=6 July 2011}}
* {{cite book |last=Tucker |first=William Thornhill |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.bengal.10689.19273 |title=A pocket dictionary of English and Persian |year=1850 |publisher=J. Madden |page=145 |access-date=6 July 2011}}
* {{cite book |last=Windfuhr |first=Gernot L. |date=15 January 2009 |chapter=Persian |title=The World's Major Languages |edition=2nd |editor=Bernard Comrie |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-35339-7}}
* {{cite book |last=Wollaston |first=(Sir) Arthur Naylor |url=https://archive.org/details/anenglishpersia00wollgoog |title=An English-Persian dictionary |year=1882 |publisher=W. H. Allen |access-date=6 July 2011}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Sister project links |auto=1 |wikt=Category:Persian language |commons=Category:Persian language |voy=Persian phrasebook |iw=fa |display=Persian}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090830061043/http://www.persianacademy.ir/ Academy of Persian Language and Literature official website] {{in lang|fa}} (archived 30 August 2009)
* [http://www.persian-language.com/ Assembly for the Expansion of the Persian Language official website] {{in lang|fa}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20121209222040/http://persianlanguage.ir/ Persian language Resources] {{in lang|fa}} (archived 9 December 2012)
* [http://www.parstimes.com/language/ Persian Language Resources], parstimes.com
* [http://alefbaye2om.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Ma_farsi_balad_im_EN.pdf Persian language tutorial books for beginners]
* [[Soleiman Haim|Haim, Soleiman]]. [https://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/hayyim/ New Persian–English dictionary]. Teheran: Librairie-imprimerie Beroukhim, 1934–1936. uchicago.edu
* [[Steingass, Francis Joseph]]. [https://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/steingass/ A Comprehensive Persian–English dictionary]. London: Routledge & K. Paul, 1892. uchicago.edu
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060720065425/http://www.pavelicpapers.com/documents/odpor/index.html UCLA Language Materials Project:] [https://web.archive.org/web/20170923082042/http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/Profile.aspx?LangID=63&menu=004 Persian], ucla.edu (archived 20 July 2006)
* [http://www.kolahstudio.com/?p=620 How Persian Alphabet Transits into Graffiti], Persian Graffiti
* [https://archive.org/details/mike_worldmentoringacademy_03b Basic Persian language course (book + audio files)] – USA Foreign Service Institute (FSI)

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