What it means
کشیدن (kashidan) is a pure Persian verb with roots in Middle Persian, meaning “to pull,” “to draw,” or “to endure.” It is among the most productive roots in the language: the same verb describes pulling a door, drawing a line, smoking a cigarette, and bearing hardship. Its present stem کش (kesh) appears in dozens of compounds, from نقشهکش (naqshe-kesh, draftsman) to دردکش (dard-kesh, someone who endures pain). A close word for the artistic sense is رسم کردن (rasm kardan, to draw/sketch), which is more specific to illustration.
How to use it
- در رو بکش. (Dar ro bekesh.) “Pull the door.”
- یه خط بکش اینجا. (Ye khatt bekesh injâ.) “Draw a line here.”
- خیلی زحمت کشیدم. (Kheyli zahmat keshidam.) “I endured a lot of trouble / I worked very hard.”
- سیگار میکشه؟ (Sigâr mikeshe?) “Does he smoke?”
Cultural note
The breadth of کشیدن reflects how Persian encodes both physical and emotional experience through the same root. The phrase زجر کشیدن (zajr keshidan, to suffer agony) and درد کشیدن (dard keshidan, to endure pain) use it for deep suffering, while عکس کشیدن (aks keshidan) is an older colloquial term for taking a photograph. Classical poets used کشیدن to describe both the bowstring being drawn and the lover bearing separation, making it one of the richest verbs in the literary tradition as well.