What it means
دلفین (delfin) is the standard Farsi word for dolphin, the intelligent marine mammal. The word is a borrowing: it entered Persian through Arabic (معرب), and Arabic in turn took it from the Greek delphin. You will hear دلفین in everyday speech, news reports, and nature documentaries without any formal or technical feel. A related animal sometimes confused with it is نهنگ (nahang), which means whale, a much larger creature.
How to use it
- دلفینها خیلی باهوشن. (delfin-hâ kheyli bâhushn.) “Dolphins are very intelligent.”
- امروز تو دریا یه دلفین دیدیم. (emruz tu daryâ ye delfin didim.) “Today we saw a dolphin in the sea.”
- بچهها عاشق دلفینها هستن. (bachche-hâ âshegh-e delfin-hâ hastan.) “Kids love dolphins.”
- توی پارک دریایی میتونی با دلفین شنا کنی. (tuy pârk-e daryâyi mi-tuni bâ delfin shenâ koni.) “At the marine park you can swim with dolphins.”
Cultural note
Dolphins appear in Persian children’s literature and animated television programs, making دلفین one of the first sea-creature words young learners pick up. The Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman are home to several dolphin species, and sightings from boats along Iran’s southern coast are common enough that the word comes up in everyday conversation among coastal communities. In classical texts the animal referred to was often the همایون (humayun) or a legendary sea-helper, but modern Persian uniformly uses دلفین.