عشق

عشق is borrowed from Arabic عِشْق (ʿishq) via the trilateral root ع ش ق (ʿ-sh-q) meaning passionate love, especially love beyond reason. Persian classical poetry made عشق a central category, distinguishing it sharply from دوست داشتن (everyday love) and محبت (affection). Hafez's Divan returns to عشق as the burning state that hollows out the lover. Rumi's Masnavi treats it as both the human and the divine longing, often deliberately blurring the two. In modern Iran, the word has not lost its weight. Saying "عاشقتم" to someone is a serious statement, much heavier than English "I love you." Younger Iranians sometimes lighten it by using English "love you" or the diminutive "عشقم" (eshq-am, "my love") as casual affection. But عشق itself stays loaded.