What it means
بدبین (badbin) means pessimistic or suspicious, someone who expects the worst or doubts other people’s intentions. Like its opposite خوشبین (khoshbin), the word is purely Persian: بد (bad) means bad, and بین (bin) is the present stem of دیدن (didan), to see. A badbin person is literally a bad-seer. While khoshbin carries a generally positive connotation, badbin is more neutral in usage: it can describe healthy skepticism just as easily as a gloomy worldview. When the suspicion is directed at people specifically, badbin overlaps with the idea of being distrustful.
How to use it
- چرا انقدر بدبینی؟ (cherâ inghadr badbini?) “Why are you so pessimistic?”
- تجربههای بد باعث شده بدبین بشه. (tajrobehâye bad bâes shodeh badbin beshe.) “Bad experiences have made him pessimistic.”
- نسبت به این پروژه بدبینم. (nesbat be in prozheh badbinam.) “I am pessimistic about this project.”
- بدبین نباش، شاید درست بشه. (badbin nabâsh, shâyad dorost beshe.) “Don’t be pessimistic, maybe it will work out.”
Cultural note
In Iran, a degree of بدبینی (badbini, pessimism) is sometimes described as a form of wisdom or street sense, especially given historical and political turbulence. There is a social tension between the value placed on hope and the practical wariness many Iranians develop over time. The pair خوشبین and بدبین appears frequently in everyday conversations about news, relationships, and economic outlooks, making both words part of the essential B1 vocabulary for anyone learning natural spoken Persian.