What it means
عقرب (aqrab) means scorpion. The word is borrowed directly from Arabic, where عقرب carries the same meaning and has been in use since pre-Islamic times. It entered Persian as part of the large wave of Arabic vocabulary that came with the spread of Islam. In Persian the word does double duty: it means the animal and it is the name of the zodiac sign Scorpio, exactly as in Arabic. The clock hand known as the minute hand is also called عقربه (aqrabe) in formal Persian, a diminutive form evoking the scorpion’s curved tail. There is no commonly used native Persian synonym for scorpion in everyday speech.
How to use it
- مراقب عقربها باش وقتی تو صحرا هستی. (Morâqeb aqrabâ bâsh vaghti tu sahrâ hasti.) “Watch out for scorpions when you are in the desert.”
- یه عقرب زیر سنگ پیدا کردیم. (Ye aqrab zir-e sang peydâ kardim.) “We found a scorpion under a rock.”
- نیش عقرب خطرناکه. (Nish-e aqrab khatarnâke.) “The scorpion’s sting is dangerous.”
- متولد عقرب هستم. (Motavaled-e aqrab hastam.) “I am a Scorpio.”
Cultural note
Scorpions are a real hazard in the arid and semi-arid regions of Iran, particularly in Khuzestan, Hormozgan, and the central desert provinces, and awareness of them is practically embedded in daily rural life in those areas. Medically, scorpion stings account for a significant number of hospital admissions in southern Iran each year, making عقرب more than just a word in a vocabulary list for people who live there. In Persian astrology and the solar Hijri calendar, عقرب is the name of the eighth month of the zodiac corresponding to Scorpio, and Iranians routinely use it to describe someone’s star sign.