What it means
برق (bargh) comes from the Arabic root b-r-q, meaning “to flash” or “to shine,” and entered Persian as a loanword centuries ago. Today it covers three overlapping meanings in everyday speech: electricity as a utility (“the power is out”), lightning as a weather phenomenon, and electric light in older or poetic usage. There is no competing synonym for electricity in standard Persian: bargh is the word. In scientific contexts you may encounter الکتریسیته (elektrisite), borrowed from French via modern scientific vocabulary, but in conversation bargh is universal.
How to use it
- برق رفت. (bargh raft.) “The electricity went out.”
- آسمان برق زد. (âsmân bargh zad.) “Lightning struck the sky.”
- قبض برق رو پرداختی؟ (qabz-e bargh ro pardâkhti?) “Did you pay the electricity bill?”
- کلید برق کجاست؟ (kelid-e bargh kojâst?) “Where is the light switch?”
Cultural note
Power cuts, called “قطع برق” (qat-e bargh), have been a recurring feature of daily life in Iran, particularly in summer when air-conditioning demand peaks. The phrase “برق رفت” (bargh raft, literally “electricity went”) is so common it functions almost as a fixed expression. In classical Persian poetry, برق appears frequently as a symbol of fleeting beauty or divine illumination, most famously in the ghazals of Hafez.