What it means
کفری (kafri) is a slang adjective meaning livid, fuming, or absolutely furious beyond the point of reason. It comes from Arabic كافر (kâfer), meaning unbeliever or infidel, via the derived adjective كفري. In Tehran street speech the word was repurposed with dark humor: someone so enraged that they have “gone kâfer,” as if their faith has been scorched away by anger. It is stronger and more colorful than عصبانی (asabâni), and more slangy. The expression کفرم درآمد (kafram darâmad), literally “my infidelity came out,” means “I was driven absolutely crazy with anger.” You would use کفری with close friends only, not in formal or mixed company.
How to use it
- کفریم کردی با این حرفت! (kafrim kardi bâ in harfat!) “You drove me absolutely livid with that!”
- کفرم درآمده از دست مدیرم. (kafram darâmade az dast-e modiram.) “My boss has driven me absolutely insane with rage.”
- دیدم کفری شده، دیگه چیزی نگفتم. (didam kafri shode, dige chizi nagoftam.) “I saw he was fuming, so I didn’t say anything else.”
- اینقدر کفری نشو، حلش میکنیم. (inqadr kafri nasho, halash mikonim.) “Don’t be so furious, we’ll sort it out.”
Cultural note
کفری is a good example of how Iranian street slang borrows from Islamic religious vocabulary and inverts it for comedic or expressive effect. The same pattern appears in other Iranian slang expressions where religious concepts are repurposed to describe extreme emotional or physical states. The word is B1 for comprehension because learners encounter it in Iranian films, YouTube content, and WhatsApp voice notes fairly often, but producing it correctly requires knowing the register: it is firmly slang, appropriate only among peers who are on familiar terms. Using کفری in a formal or professional context would sound jarring.