What it means
دور has two distinct origins bundled into one written form. When read as dur, meaning “far” or “distant,” the word is native Persian, descended from Proto-Iranian dūráh and cognate with Sanskrit dura. When read as dowr, meaning “a round, cycle, period, or lap,” the word is borrowed from Arabic, from the verb دار (dâra) and its triliteral root د-و-ر, which also gives words like dawra (circuit) and dawr (turn). Context and spoken stress distinguish the two. As dur (far), it pairs with nazdik (نزدیک) as its antonym. As dowr (cycle), it appears in phrases like yek dowr (one lap) or dowr-e tarikhi (a historical period).
How to use it
- خونهاش از اینجا خیلی دوره. (Khunash az inja kheyli dure.) “His house is very far from here.”
- یه دور دور پارک زدیم. (Ye dowr dowr-e park zadim.) “We did one lap around the park.”
- دور از چشم مادرم سیگار میکشید. (Dur az cheshm-e maadaram sigaar mikeshid.) “He smoked out of my mother’s sight.”
- این دور از ذهنم بود. (In dur az zehnam bud.) “This was far from my mind. I hadn’t thought of it.”
Cultural note
The homograph nature of دور is a genuine feature of written Persian, where vowels are typically not written, and a reader must infer meaning from context. Classical Persian poetry exploits this ambiguity: a line about دور can simultaneously evoke distance and the turning of fate or time. The dowr (cycle/fortune) sense appears throughout Hafez and Khayyam, where دور فلک (dowr-e falak), the celestial cycle or wheel of fate, is a recurring image for the unpredictability of life.