حنجره

What it means

حنجره (hanjare) means the larynx, or voice box, the part of the throat that holds the vocal cords and produces speech and singing. It is a formal, medical word that Persian borrowed from Arabic (from ḥanjara, حنجرة). In everyday talk people more often say گلو (galu), meaning throat, but گلو is broader and less precise: when a doctor or a singer talks about the actual organ that makes the voice, they say حنجره.

How to use it

• حنجره‌ام درد می‌کنه (hanjaram dard mikone) “my larynx hurts.”
• دکتر حنجره‌ام رو معاینه کرد (doktor hanjaram ro mo’ayene kard) “the doctor examined my larynx.”
• خواننده باید مراقب حنجره‌اش باشه (khanande bayad moraghebe hanjareash bashe) “a singer has to take care of their voice box.”
• صدام گرفته، انگار حنجره‌ام ورم کرده (sedam gerefte, engar hanjaram varam karde) “my voice is hoarse, like my larynx is swollen.”

Cultural note

حنجره shows up a lot in talk about singing, because classical Persian vocal music (آواز, avaz) demands enormous control of the voice. Fans praise a great singer’s حنجره the way English speakers praise a “golden voice.” In clinics, an ear, nose and throat specialist is called پزشک گوش و حلق و بینی, and حنجره is the organ they check when someone loses their voice or stays hoarse. The colloquial گلو covers the general throat, while حنجره stays the precise anatomical term.

References

• Dehkhoda
• Vajehyab