اس‌ام‌اس

What it means

اس‌ام‌اس (es-em-es) is the direct Persian phonetic spelling of the English abbreviation SMS (Short Message Service). The word entered everyday Persian speech in the late 1990s and early 2000s alongside the spread of mobile phones and has remained in use even as messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram became dominant. In practice, اس‌ام‌اس refers to both the old-style SMS text message and, loosely, to any short notification sent by a government agency, bank, or business to a phone number. Personal messaging between friends has largely shifted to پیام (payâm) sent via apps, but official messages (bank confirmations, one-time passwords, government notices) are still called اس‌ام‌اس by most speakers. The verb phrase is اس‌ام‌اس دادن (es-em-es dâdan) for sending and اس‌ام‌اس اومد (es-em-es umad) for receiving.

How to use it

• اس‌ام‌اس دادم بهت (es-em-es dâdam behet) “I sent you a text.”
• یه اس‌ام‌اس از بانک اومد (ye es-em-es az bânk umad) “A text from the bank came in.”
• چرا جواب اس‌ام‌اسم رو ندادی؟ (cherâ javâb-e es-em-es-am ro nadâdi?) “Why didn’t you reply to my text?”
• رمز یه‌بارمصرف رو اس‌ام‌اس می‌کنن (ramz-e ye-bâr-masraf ro es-em-es mikonan) “They send the one-time password by SMS.”

Cultural note

In Iran, اس‌ام‌اس acquired a cultural life of its own during the 2000s. SMS poetry competitions were popular, and forwarding witty or religious اس‌ام‌اس messages to friends and family became a social ritual around holidays and Nowruz. Telecom companies ran اس‌ام‌اس voting services for TV competitions. Today the word survives mainly in the context of official one-time passwords and automated bank notifications, while casual messaging vocabulary has shifted toward واتساپ (WhatsApp) and تلگرام (Telegram).

References

• Dehkhoda
• Vajehyab