What it means
غصه خوردن (ghosse khordan) is a compound verb that combines غصه (ghosse), a word of Arabic origin meaning grief or sorrow, with the versatile Persian verb خوردن (khordan, to eat or to consume). Persian uses “khordan” in a wide family of emotional compound verbs, treating an emotion as something the body consumes from the inside. Ghosse khordan means to fret over something, to sit and worry, or to grieve quietly. It is colloquial in register and appears constantly in everyday speech. A close synonym is نگران بودن (negarân budan), meaning to be anxious, though ghosse khordan has a heavier, more helpless quality.
How to use it
- غصه نخور، درست میشه. (ghosse nakhor, dorost mishe.) “Don’t fret, it’ll sort itself out.”
- همش غصهی بچههاشو میخوره. (hamash ghosse-ye bachehâsho mikhore.) “She’s always eating herself up worrying about her kids.”
- بابام یه عمر غصه خورد و چیزی نگفت. (babâm ye ‘omr ghosse khord o chizi nagoft.) “My dad spent a lifetime fretting and never said a word.”
- دیگه غصهی اون آدمو نخور. (dige ghosse-ye oon adamo nakhor.) “Stop grieving over that person, it’s done.”
Cultural note
غصه خوردن is one of several compound verbs in Persian where an emotion is metaphorically “eaten.” This reflects a broader Persian tendency to describe psychological states through physical consumption: حرص خوردن (to seethe), دلم میخواد (my heart wants). The word غصه itself entered Persian from Arabic, but the compound construction and its expressive weight are thoroughly Persian. In practice, telling someone “غصه نخور” is one of the most common comforting phrases in Iranian daily life.