What it means
حقوق (hoqûq) comes directly from Arabic, where it is the broken plural of حق (haqq), meaning truth, entitlement, or right. In Persian it carries two distinct meanings depending on context. First, it means rights in the civic or human sense, as in حقوق بشر (hoqûq-e bashar, human rights). Second, it names the academic field of law, so a law student is دانشجوی حقوق (dâneshju-ye hoqûq). The word also means salary or wages in everyday Persian, a third meaning inherited from the Arabic sense of what one is owed. These three meanings share the same root idea: what is legitimately due to someone.
How to use it
- اون داره حقوق میخونه. (oon dâre hoqûq mikhune.) “He is studying law.”
- حقوق بشر باید رعایت بشه. (hoqûq-e bashar bâyad re’âyat beshe.) “Human rights must be respected.”
- حقوق ماهانهمون چقدره؟ (hoqûq-e mâhâne-mun cheqadre?) “How much is our monthly salary?”
- این قرارداد حقوق من رو نادیده گرفته. (in qarârdâd hoqûq-e man ro nâdide gerefte.) “This contract has ignored my rights.”
Cultural note
Iran’s legal system blends civil-code traditions with Islamic jurisprudence (فقه, feqh), so the word hoqûq sits at the intersection of two frameworks that sometimes agree and sometimes conflict. Hoqûq-e bashar became a politically charged phrase inside Iran after the 1979 revolution, as international human rights organizations began documenting concerns about judicial practice. University faculties of law are called دانشکده حقوق (dâneshkade-ye hoqûq), and a law degree is among the most competitive to enter in the Iranian university entrance system.