What it means
جنایت (jenâyat) comes from the Arabic root j-n-y, meaning to commit an offense or to harvest harm. In Persian it refers to a serious crime, an atrocity, or a grave wrongdoing, whether legal or moral. It sits at a weightier level than جرم (jorm), which is the ordinary legal term for crime or offense. While جرم covers a speeding ticket or a minor fraud charge, جنایت implies violence, mass harm, or profound moral transgression, the kind of act described as a war crime, a massacre, or a murder. You will often see it in news headlines and political condemnations. The plural is جنایات (jenâyât), used when referring to multiple crimes or a pattern of atrocities.
How to use it
- این جنایت باید بررسی بشه. (in jenâyat bâyad barrasi beshe.) “This crime must be investigated.”
- جنایات جنگی قابل بخشش نیستن. (jenâyât-e jangi qâbel-e bakhshesh nistandn.) “War crimes are unforgivable.”
- اون جنایتکار به دادگاه معرفی شد. (un jenâyatkâr be dâdgâh mo’arrefi shod.) “That criminal was referred to court.”
- دولت این عمل رو جنایت علیه بشریت خوند. (dowlat in amal ro jenâyat alayh-e bashariyyat khund.) “The government called this act a crime against humanity.”
Cultural note
In Iranian political discourse, جنایت is a charged word used both by the state and by opposition voices to describe acts of violence or oppression. State media commonly uses جنایات to describe actions by foreign adversaries, while opposition activists and human rights groups have used the same word to characterize incidents of state violence and political repression inside Iran. The compound جنایتکار (jenâyat-kâr, criminal or perpetrator of atrocities) is formed by adding the Persian agent suffix -kâr, a good example of how Arabic nouns are productively extended in Persian.