What it means
قبر (qabr) is the standard Persian word for a grave, the place in the ground where a body is buried. It comes from Arabic قَبْر (qabr), from the root ق-ب-ر meaning to bury. This is the word you will encounter in formal contexts, religious texts, and everyday conversation alike. Its native Persian near-synonym is گور (gur), which carries a slightly rougher or more poetic register. قبرستان (qabrestan) is the common word for a cemetery, and قبر کندن (qabr kandan) means to dig a grave.
How to use it
- سر قبر پدرم رفتم. (sar-e qabr-e pedaram raftam.) “I went to my father’s grave.”
- قبر رو با گل تزئین کردن. (qabr ro bâ gol taz’in kardan.) “They decorated the grave with flowers.”
- قبرستان بهشت زهرا بزرگترین قبرستان تهرانه. (qabrestan-e behesht-e zahrâ bozorgtarin qabrestan-e tehrâne.) “Behesht-e Zahra cemetery is Tehran’s largest cemetery.”
- روی قبرش نوشتن رحمه الله علیه. (ru-ye qabrash neveshtan rahmatollâh ‘alayh.) “They wrote ‘may God have mercy on him’ on his gravestone.”
Cultural note
Visiting graves, especially on the Thursday evening before Friday (شب جمعه, shab-e jom’e), is a widespread Iranian custom. Families bring flowers, candles, and sometimes food to the graveside, recite the Fatiha, and spend time in reflection. Behesht-e Zahrâ (بهشت زهرا) in south Tehran is the largest cemetery in Iran and one of the largest in the world, holding hundreds of thousands of graves including a dedicated section for those who died in the Iran-Iraq War. The word قبر also appears frequently in Persian proverbs and poetry, often as a symbol of finality or the ultimate equalizer.