What it means
قوچ (ghuch) is the word for a ram, specifically an adult uncastrated male sheep, typically one that is at least two or three years old and horned. The word is a Turkic loanword. Dehkhoda’s dictionary labels it as Turkish in origin, tracing it to Proto-Turkic *koç, the same root that gives modern Turkish koç. The classical Persian equivalent is کبش (kabsh), an Arabic borrowing found mostly in literary or religious texts, while قوچ is the word people actually use in everyday speech across Iran.
How to use it
- قوچ شاخ داره و میش شاخ نداره. (ghuch shakh dare va mish shakh nadare.) “The ram has horns and the ewe does not.”
- قوچبازی یه سنت قدیمیه. (ghuch-bazi ye sonnat-e ghadimiye.) “Ram-fighting is an old tradition.”
- گله یه قوچ قوی داره. (galle ye ghuch-e ghavi dare.) “The flock has a strong ram.”
- قوچ رو برای عید قربون خریدن. (ghuch ro baraye eid-e ghorbun kharidin.) “They bought the ram for Eid al-Adha.”
Cultural note
Ram-fighting, known as قوچبازی (ghuch-bazi), has a long history in Iran and the broader Turkic-Persian cultural world, particularly in Azerbaijan, Khorasan, and the Caucasus. Village men would keep and train prize rams, and matches were social events tied to festivals and local pride. The custom is now much rarer but persists in some rural areas. The ram also holds symbolic weight in pastoral life as the head of the flock and, in religious contexts, as the sacrificial animal of Eid al-Adha.