What it means
علف (alaf) is borrowed from Arabic (عَلَف, ‘alaf), where it originally meant fodder or animal feed. In Persian, the word broadened to cover grass in general, including wild grass, lawn grass, and garden weeds. The Arabic spelling with the letter عین (ayn) at the start marks its origin clearly. A useful contrast: چمن (chaman) refers specifically to a cultivated lawn or meadow, while علف can describe any grass, including unwanted weeds. The compound علفکش (alaf-kosh) means herbicide or weed killer.
How to use it
- علفهای هرز تو باغچه زیاد شده. (Alaf-hâ-ye harz tu bâghche ziâd shode.) “The weeds in the garden have multiplied.”
- گاوها تو مزرعه علف میخورن. (Gâvhâ tu mazra’e alaf mikhoran.) “The cows are grazing in the field.”
- باید علفکشی کنیم. (Bâyad alaf-koshi konim.) “We need to do some weeding.”
- بعد از بارون علفها سبز شدن. (Ba’d az bârun alaf-hâ sabz shodan.) “After the rain the grasses turned green.”
Cultural note
The Arabic origin of علف did not prevent it from becoming fully naturalized in Persian. It appears in classical texts and in modern colloquial speech with equal ease. In Iranian agricultural life, the distinction between useful علف (fodder for livestock) and علف هرز (harz, weed, literally wild grass) is practically important, and the compound علف هرز is one of the first gardening terms Persian speakers learn. The word also enters proverbs about neglect, where an overgrown garden full of علف signals abandonment.