What it means
کتری (ketri) means “kettle,” the vessel used to heat water, almost always for brewing tea. The word is a loanword from English “kettle,” which itself traces back to Late Latin catillus (small bowl) via Proto-Germanic and Old English. In Persian households, the ketri sits permanently on the stove or on a samovar heater and is associated inseparably with the daily ritual of making tea. It is distinct from قوری (quri), which is the smaller teapot into which the brewed tea concentrate is poured.
How to use it
- کتری رو گذاشتم رو گاز. (ketri ro gozâshtam ru gâz.) “I put the kettle on the gas burner.”
- آب کتری جوش اومد. (âb-e ketri jush âmad.) “The water in the kettle has boiled.”
- کتری خالیه، پرش کن. (ketri khâlieh, pur-esh kon.) “The kettle is empty, fill it up.”
- کتری برقی خریدیم تازه. (ketri-ye barqi kharidim tâze.) “We just bought an electric kettle.”
Cultural note
In Iran, tea drinking is a national ritual and the ketri is at the center of it. The traditional method uses a two-tiered system: the ketri provides boiling water, while the quri sitting on top steeps a strong tea concentrate that is diluted to taste in the glass. No Iranian kitchen or office is considered properly equipped without a functioning ketri. The phrase چای دَم کردن (châyi dam kardan, “to brew tea”) always begins with the ketri on the heat.