What it means
هزاران (hazârân) is the Persian word for “thousands of” or “many thousands,” used to express a large and often emotionally charged quantity rather than a precise number. It is formed by adding the native Persian plural suffix -ان (-ân) to هزار (hazâr, “thousand”), itself an ancient Iranian word traceable to Avestan hazanra. The result carries a sense of vastness or overwhelm that a bare number often cannot. You can contrast it with میلیونها (milyonhâ, “millions”) for even larger scale, or with دهها (dahâ, “tens of”) for a smaller but similar rhetorical effect.
How to use it
- هزاران نفر اومدن. (Hazârân nafar umadan.) “Thousands of people came.”
- هزاران بار گفتم. (Hazârân bâr goftam.) “I told you thousands of times.”
- هزاران ستاره تو آسمون بود. (Hazârân setâre tu âsemun bud.) “There were thousands of stars in the sky.”
- هزاران سال پیش اینجا شهر بود. (Hazârân sâl pish injâ shahr bud.) “Thousands of years ago there was a city here.”
Cultural note
Persian poetry has long used هزاران as a figure of overwhelming abundance. Classical poets including Hafez and Rumi use constructions with هزار to evoke infinitude, longing, or divine generosity. In modern spoken Persian, saying هزاران بار (hazârân bâr, “thousands of times”) is the natural hyperbolic equivalent of the English phrase “I’ve told you a million times,” and it is heard in both formal and colloquial settings.