What it means
داماد (dâmâd) has two meanings that context separates clearly: at a wedding it means the groom, and within an established family it means son-in-law. The word is native Persian, attested in Middle Persian as dâmâdag, and was later borrowed into Turkish as damat, not the reverse. Its feminine counterpart is عروس (arus), meaning bride or daughter-in-law. In spoken Persian, دامادم (dâmâdam) means either “my groom” in the context of a wedding, or “my son-in-law” in everyday family talk: the meaning is always clear from context.
How to use it
- داماد امشب چقدر خوشتیپه! (dâmâd emshab cheghadr khosh-tipo!) “The groom looks so handsome tonight!”
- دامادم هر هفته میاد خونهمون. (dâmâdam har hafte miâd khunemun.) “My son-in-law comes to our house every week.”
- پدرش داره داماد انتخاب میکنه. (pedarash dâre dâmâd entekhâb mikone.) “Her father is choosing a son-in-law.”
- داماد خانواده خیلی آدم خوبیه. (dâmâd-e khânevâde kheyli âdam-e khubie.) “The family’s son-in-law is a very good person.”
Cultural note
In Iranian wedding culture the dâmâd holds a central but often secondary visual role compared to the arus. The elaborate arusi (wedding ceremony) and the sofreh-ye aghd (ceremonial spread) are designed around the bride, yet the groom’s family carries significant social weight in the khâstegâri (formal courtship and proposal) process that precedes the wedding. A family’s pride in their dâmâd, or disappointment, is a common thread in Iranian social conversation, reflecting how marriage is understood as a union of families rather than only of two individuals.