گردن

What it means

گردن (gardan) primarily means neck, the part of the body. It is pure Persian and has a long history in the language, appearing in classical poetry and everyday speech alike. Beyond the anatomical meaning, گردن carries several figurative senses. گردن داشتن (gardan dâshtan) means to bear or carry responsibility, as in این کار گردن توئه (in kâr gardan-e toye, this task is your responsibility). گردن گذاشتن (gardan gozâshtan) means to submit or yield to something. گردن انداختن (gardan andâkhtan) means to hang something around someone’s neck, figuratively to burden a person with a task or debt they did not choose. گردن کلفت (gardan koloft), literally thick-necked, is the colloquial way to describe someone who has power, connections, or muscle, a person who can get things done or get away with things that others cannot.

How to use it

• گردنم درد می‌کنه. (gardan-am dard mikone.) “My neck hurts.”
• این مسئولیت گردن منه. (in mas’uliyat gardan-e mane.) “This responsibility is on my shoulders.”
• کار رو انداختن گردنم. (kâr ro andâkhtan gardan-am.) “They dumped the work on me.”
• اون آدم گردن کلفتیه، باهاش کاری نمیشه کرد. (un âdam-e gardan-kolofti-ye, bâhâsh kâri nemishe kard.) “He is a well-connected guy, there’s nothing you can do against him.”

Cultural note

The image of the neck carrying weight is central to Persian moral and social speech. Phrases built on گردن map the body’s load-bearing function directly onto concepts of duty, debt, and burden. In classical Persian poetry گردن کشیدن (gardan keshidan) means to be proud or to hold one’s head high, showing the neck as the axis of dignity. The colloquial گردن کلفت reflects something different: the social reality of influence and informal power that operates outside rules, a figure Iranians recognize instantly even if they rarely encounter the term in formal contexts.

References

• Dehkhoda
• Vajehyab