What it means
آتشنشانی (âtash-neshâni) refers both to the fire station as a physical building and to the fire department as an institution. The word is built entirely from Persian roots: آتش (âtash, fire, from the Avestan ātar-) and نشاندن (neshândan, to cause to sit or to extinguish). The compound literally means the extinguishing of fire. A related phrase you will hear is ماشین آتشنشانی (mâshin-e âtash-neshâni), meaning fire engine. Unlike words for police or hospital, which have Arabic or French rivals in everyday speech, آتشنشانی has no competing loanword in modern colloquial Farsi.
How to use it
- آتشنشانی کجاست؟ (âtash-neshâni kojâst?) “Where is the fire station?”
- با آتشنشانی تماس بگیر. (bâ âtash-neshâni tamâs begir.) “Call the fire department.”
- ماشین آتشنشانی داره میاد. (mâshin-e âtash-neshâni dâre miyâd.) “The fire engine is coming.”
- شماره آتشنشانی صد و بیست و پنجه. (shomare-ye âtash-neshâni sad-o-bist-o-panje.) “The fire department number is 125.”
Cultural note
In Iran the emergency number for the fire department is 125, separate from the police (110) and emergency medical services (115). Fire stations are a familiar landmark in Iranian cities and are often the first large public building children learn to identify by name. The unmistakably Persian word is also used as a small point of linguistic pride in conversations about the relative purity of the language.