What it means
گران (gerân) is a pure-Persian adjective from Middle Persian grân, meaning heavy or weighty, which extended naturally to mean valuable, precious, and then expensive, since heavy things were often costly. In modern everyday Persian the dominant sense is expensive or costly, the direct antonym of ارزان (arzân, cheap). However, in formal writing and poetry, گران still carries the older nuance of precious or burdensome: غم گران (gham-e gerân, heavy sorrow), بار گران (bâr-e gerân, a heavy burden). The verb گران شدن (gerân shodan) means to become more expensive and is heard constantly in economic news.
How to use it
- همه چیز گرون شده، نمیکشه. (hame chiz gerun shode, nemi-kashe.) “Everything has gotten expensive, it’s unbearable.”
- این کیف چرا انقدر گرونه؟ (in kif cherâ inqadr gerun-e?) “Why is this bag so expensive?”
- خونه تو تهران خیلی گرونه. (khune tu tehrân kheyli gerun-e.) “Housing in Tehran is very expensive.”
- این هدیهی گرونبهاییه برام. (in hadiye-ye gerunbahâyi-ye baram.) “This is a precious gift to me.”
Cultural note
گران is one of the most emotionally charged words in contemporary Iranian life. Since the 1980s, Iranians have experienced repeated bouts of sharp price increases, and complaints about گرانی (gerâni, expensiveness, the high cost of living) are a permanent feature of street conversation, news headlines, and social media. The compound گرانقیمت (gerân-qeymat, of high price) is a slightly formal variant, while گرونه (gerun-e) is the colloquial contracted form heard in markets and kitchens. In literary Persian, گران retains its older sense of weighty and precious, appearing in classical verse as a descriptor for grief, gold, and the burden of love.