What it means
آبگرمکن (âb-garm-kon) means water heater or boiler, the appliance that heats water for household use: showers, baths, and hot taps. The word is a transparent Persian compound: آب (âb, water) plus گرم (garm, hot or warm) plus کن (kon), the imperative stem of کردن (kardan, to do or make), giving the literal sense of “hot-water-maker.” Iranian households typically use either a wall-mounted gas boiler or a storage tank heater. A closely related term is پکیج (pâkij), borrowed from English “package,” which refers specifically to a combi boiler that provides both heating and hot water.
How to use it
- آبگرمکن داره خاموش میشه (âb-garm-kon dâre khâmush mishe) “The water heater is going out”
- آب سرده، آبگرمکن روشن نیست (âb sarde, âb-garm-kon rowshan nist) “The water is cold, the water heater isn’t on”
- باید آبگرمکن رو سرویس کنیم (bâyad âb-garm-kon ro servis konim) “We need to service the water heater”
- آبگرمکن گازیه یا برقی؟ (âb-garm-kon gâziye yâ barqi?) “Is the water heater gas or electric?”
Cultural note
Hot water access has been a marker of housing quality in Iran throughout the twentieth century. Many older homes and rural dwellings relied on a حمام عمومی (hammâm-e omumi, public bathhouse) precisely because private hot water was not available at home. The wall-mounted آبگرمکن became standard in urban apartments from the 1960s onward, and a functioning one is considered a basic necessity rather than a luxury. Gas shortages or a broken آبگرمکن in winter remain a genuine household hardship.