فکر

What it means

فکر (fekr) means “thought, idea, opinion.” Arabic loanword, A1 vocabulary, dominant in everyday spoken Persian. Anchor word for the compound verb فکر کردن (fekr kardan, “to think”).

How to use it

• فکر می‌کنم (fekr mikonam) “I think”
• فکر خوبی است (fekr-e khubi ast) “It is a good idea”
• توی فکرم (tuye fekram) “I am deep in thought”

Common pairings

• فکر کردن (fekr kardan) “to think”
• هم‌فکر (ham-fekr) “like-minded”
• طرز فکر (tarz-e fekr) “way of thinking”
• فکری (fekri) “intellectual, mental”
• اندیشه (andishe) “thought” (Pure Persian, formal/literary)

Pure Persian alternative

اندیشه (andishe) is the Pure Persian word for “thought”, preferred in formal writing, philosophy, and the Pure Persian Movement. Built from the verb اندیشیدن (andishidan, “to think”). فکر comes from the Arabic triliteral root ف ک ر, also yielding متفکر (motafakker, “thinker”) and افکار (afkâr, “thoughts”, Arabic plural). Despite Pure Persian alternatives, فکر dominates spoken Persian almost completely.

Pair

This entry pairs with اندیشه (andishe), the Pure Persian alternative used in literary and formal contexts. فکر is the dominant Arabic-origin word in everyday speech.

References

• Dehkhoda
• Wiktionary