آب

آب is one of the oldest words in Persian. It survived 3,000 years of language change to mean exactly what it always meant: water.

What it actually means

آب means “water” in Persian. Drinking water, river water, ocean water, faucet water, holy water. The word is also a productive root in compound nouns: آبشار (āb-shār, waterfall, “water-fall”), آبجو (āb-jow, beer, “water-barley”), آبگوشت (āb-gūsht, broth, “water-meat”), آب پرتقال (āb-e portoghāl, orange juice). Iranians use آب for any liquid in the broader category, but they do not use it for tea (چای) or coffee (قهوه), which are their own words. آب also carries deep cultural weight. In Zoroastrianism, water is one of the seven sacred creations. In Persian poetry, it stands for purity, life, and continuity. Hafez and Rumi return to آب constantly as metaphor.

How to say it

آب is one of those Persian words that does not shift between registers. The pronunciation is the same in news writing, casual chat, and poetry. The hamza-bearing alif آ marks the long aa sound at the start of the word. When آب appears in compound nouns it often takes the ezafe linker: آبِ سرد (āb-e sard, “cold water”), آبِ جوش (āb-e jūsh, “boiling water”).

In a sentence

Cultural note

آب traces to the Proto-Indo-European root *h₂ep- (“water”), surviving across the Indo-Iranian branch. Sanskrit “ap” (water), Avestan “āp” (water), and Old Persian “āp-” all share the same source. The same root reaches into English place names through Latin: “Avon” (a Celtic river name from this root) and the suffix “-apa” in old European hydronyms. Within Iran, آب structures the landscape and the calendar. The traditional qanāt system (underground water channels) shaped where Persian cities settled. Pre-Islamic Persians celebrated آب with seasonal festivals like Tirgan, when people splash each other with water at midsummer. The word still carries that weight in modern Iran. The Zoroastrian phrase “ash kasi rikht” (someone’s water spilled) is still used metaphorically when something good is wasted.

Related

You will see this word together with چای (tea, which is brewed in آب) and غذا (food, which often arrives with a glass of water on the side). For the deep history of how Persian vocabulary was shaped by ancient Iranian, read our guide to 2,500 years of Persian.