What it means
درد (dard) means “pain, ache, suffering.” Pure Persian, A2 vocabulary. Used for physical pain (headache, toothache, body ache) and metaphorical suffering (“life’s pain, my dear’s pain”). One of Persian poetry’s most resonant words.
How to use it
- سرم درد میکند (saram dard mikonad) “My head hurts”
- درد دارم (dard dâram) “I have pain”
- درد و دل (dard-o-del) “heartfelt confiding (literally pain and heart)”
Common pairings
- درد کشیدن (dard keshidan) “to suffer pain”
- دلدرد (del-dard) “stomachache”
- سردرد (sardard) “headache”
- دنداندرد (dandân-dard) “toothache”
- بیدرد (bi-dard) “carefree, painless” (often dismissive: “spoiled”)
Cultural note
درد is used emotionally as much as physically. درد و دل کردن (dard-o-del kardan, “to share pain and heart”) means to have a heart-to-heart confiding talk, a deep cultural ritual among Iranians. Persian poetry (especially Hafez and Rumi) treats درد as the soul’s necessary refining fire: “هر که را درد است، درمان او درد است” (har ke râ dard ast, darmân-e u dard ast, “for the one who has pain, the cure is pain itself”).
References
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