What it means
از کوره در رفتن (az kure dar raftan) translates literally as “to go out of the furnace.” The image is of a piece of metal heated beyond control and bursting out of the kiln, and colloquially it means to fly off the handle, to completely lose one’s temper. از (az, out of) and رفتن (raftan, to go) are native Persian; کوره (kure, furnace or kiln) entered Middle Persian from Aramaic/Syriac kura and is confirmed as a Semitic borrowing in both Dehkhoda and Wiktionary. It is fully colloquial and is never used in formal written Persian. A partial synonym is جوش آوردن (jush âvordan), which emphasizes the boiling-over moment, while az kure dar raftan stresses the complete loss of control.
How to use it
- یه چیزی گفت و من از کوره در رفتم. (ye chizi goft o man az kure dar raftam.) “He said something and I completely lost it.”
- از کوره در نرو، بشین باهاش حرف بزن. (az kure dar naro, beshin bâhâsh harf bezan.) “Don’t fly off the handle, sit down and talk to him.”
- اون اصلاً آدم آرومیه، به ندرت از کوره در میره. (oon aslan adame âromiye, be nodrat az kure dar mire.) “She is a very calm person, she rarely loses her temper.”
- بچهها با هم دعوا کردن و بابام از کوره در رفت. (bacheh-hâ bâ ham da’vâ kardan o bâbâm az kure dar raft.) “The kids started fighting and my dad blew his top.”
Cultural note
The furnace image in this idiom reflects Iran’s deep historical connection to metalwork and ceramic craft, trades where kiln temperature was literally the difference between a perfect piece and a ruined one. The idiom maps that industrial volatility onto human temperament with elegant economy. In practice it is one of the most common expressions for losing one’s temper in spoken Tehran Persian, understood by all age groups and used without any sense of archaic flavor.