What it means
هک (hak) is borrowed from English “hack” and functions in Persian as both a noun (a hack, a breach) and the root of a verb: هک کردن (hak kardan), meaning to hack. The register is colloquial but extremely common, appearing in news headlines, casual conversation, and social media equally. Depending on context it can mean breaking into a computer system illegally, or more loosely, finding a clever shortcut. The person who does it is a هکر (haker), also borrowed from English. A related but more formal term you might see in official documents is نفوذ (nofuz), meaning intrusion or penetration, but in spoken Persian هک dominates completely.
How to use it
- حسابم هک شد. (hesabam hak shod.) “My account got hacked.”
- اون سایت رو هک کردن. (oon sayt ro hak kardan.) “They hacked that website.”
- این یه هک باحاله برای صرفهجویی وقت. (in ye hak-e ba-hale baraye sarfe-joyi-ye vaqt.) “This is a cool hack for saving time.”
- نمیدونم چطور این رو هک کردن. (nemidunam chetour in ro hak kardan.) “I have no idea how they hacked this.”
Cultural note
Hacking carries a very charged meaning in Iran because accounts on Instagram, Telegram, and WhatsApp are frequently targeted, and news of celebrity or activist accounts being compromised circulates widely. The phrase «حسابم هک شد» (my account got hacked) is one of the most commonly shared sentences on Iranian social media, sometimes used genuinely and sometimes as an excuse when a controversial post appears. Beyond cybersecurity, the term has also been adopted in the productivity sense, so «لایف هک» (life hack) appears regularly in Persian YouTube and podcast titles aimed at younger audiences.