What it means
خاموش کردن (khâmush kardan) means to turn off, to silence, to mute, or to extinguish. The word خاموش (khâmush) is a pure Persian adjective meaning off, silent, or extinguished, and adding کردن (kardan, to do/make) creates the causative verb. The intransitive partner is خاموش شدن (khâmush shodan), meaning to go off, to fall silent, or to be extinguished. The compound is extremely versatile: you خاموش میکنی a phone, a light, a fire, or a sound system. In literary and poetic Persian, خاموش often carries the weight of death or eternal silence, but in everyday speech it is completely neutral and practical. The colloquial short form is just خاموش کن (khâmush kon), turn it off.
How to use it
- تلفنت رو خاموش کن (telefon-et ro khâmush kon) “Turn off your phone.”
- چراغ رو خاموش کردم (cherâgh ro khâmush kardam) “I turned off the light.”
- آتیش خاموش شد (âtish khâmush shod) “The fire went out.”
- صدات رو خاموش کن (sedâ-t ro khâmush kon) “Mute your audio.”
Cultural note
خاموش کردن the phone before entering a mosque, a classroom, or a formal ceremony is an expected social norm in Iran, and the reminder خواهشاً تلفنهاتون رو خاموش کنید (khâheshan telefon-hâtun ro khâmush konid, please turn off your phones) is a fixture at the start of any public gathering. In a poetic or elegiac register, خاموش شدن describes the extinguishing of a candle or a life, and verses about a flame going out (خاموش شدن شمع) appear throughout classical Persian poetry as a metaphor for death.
References
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