What it means
کلهشق (kalle-shagh) is the most visceral of the Persian stubbornness words. Literally it pictures a head (کله, kalle, pure Persian) that is stiff or cracked-hard (شق, shagh, from the Arabic root ش-ق-ق meaning to split or stiffen). In practice it means pig-headed or headstrong, and it lands harder than لجباز or یکدنده. It is purely colloquial. Using it in formal writing or formal speech would sound jarring. A rough near-synonym is سرسخت (sarsokht, hard-headed), which is slightly softer in register.
How to use it
- این آدم کلهشقه، هیچوقت نظرشو عوض نمیکنه. (In âdam kalle-shaghhe, hichvaght nazaresho avaz nemikone.) “This person is pig-headed, he never changes his mind.”
- کلهشقی نکن، راه بهتری هم هست. (Kalle-shaghi nakon, râhe behtari ham hast.) “Don’t be pig-headed, there is a better way.”
- بچهام کلهشق شده، هیچی بهش نمیشه گفت. (Bachche-am kalle-shagh shode, hichi behesh nemishe goft.) “My kid has become so headstrong, you can’t tell him anything.”
- اون قدر کلهشقه که حتی دکترم گوش نمیده. (Oon qadr kalle-shaghhe ke hattâ doktaram gush nemide.) “He is so pig-headed he won’t even listen to the doctor.”
Cultural note
کلهشق sits at the rough end of colloquial Persian and is often shouted in frustration rather than stated calmly. It appears frequently in popular comedy films and television series as a character label, usually for a stubborn patriarch or a rebellious young man. The word also exists as the noun کلهشقی (kalle-shaghi), meaning pig-headedness, used in sentences like این کلهشقیش منو دیوونه میکنه (This pig-headedness of his drives me crazy).