What it means
فرد (fard) comes from Arabic, from the root ف-ر-د (f-r-d), which means to be alone, singular, or unique. In Persian it carries two closely related senses. First, as a mathematical adjective, fard means “odd”: a number that cannot be divided evenly by two, such as 1, 3, 5, 7. Second, as a noun, fard means “an individual” or “a single person,” used in formal and administrative language. Its mathematical opposite is زوج (zowj, even), also from Arabic. In everyday speech, Iranians often say عدد فرد (adad-e fard) to make the mathematical meaning clear.
How to use it
- سه یه عدد فرده. (se ye adad-e farde.) “Three is an odd number.”
- هر فرد باید مسئولیت خودش رو بپذیره. (har fard bâyad mas’uliyyat-e khodash ro bapazire.) “Every individual must accept their own responsibility.”
- اعداد فرد رو از زوج جدا کن. (a’dâd-e fard ro az zowj jodâ kon.) “Separate the odd numbers from the even ones.”
- این یه کار فرده، نه جمعی. (in ye kâr-e farde, na jam’i.) “This is an individual task, not a group one.”
Cultural note
The dual life of fard as both a number and a person reflects how deeply Arabic philosophical and mathematical vocabulary shaped the Persian language. In Iranian culture, odd numbers carry symbolic weight: the number هفت (haft, seven) appears at Nowruz on the هفتسین (haft-sin) table, and gifts and offerings are traditionally given in odd quantities as a sign of sincerity and good omen. The word fard in the sense of “individual” also features prominently in the Iranian legal and administrative register, appearing in official documents and identity papers.