What it means
خرگوش (khargush) is the everyday Persian word for a rabbit or hare. It is a pure Persian compound built from two elements: خر (khar), which can mean donkey or simply large, and گوش (gush), meaning ear. The literal sense is something like the big-eared one, a vivid description of the animal’s most recognizable feature. There is no separate everyday word distinguishing a domestic rabbit from a wild hare in colloquial Persian. خرگوش covers both.
How to use it
- یه خرگوش سفید توی باغ دیدم. (ye khargush-e sefid tu-ye bagh didam.) “I saw a white rabbit in the garden.”
- بچهها عاشق خرگوشها هستن. (bachche-ha ashegh-e khargush-ha hestan.) “Kids love rabbits.”
- خرگوش از روباه فرار کرد. (khargush az rubah farar kard.) “The hare ran away from the fox.”
- میخوای یه خرگوش به عنوان حیوان خانگی نگه داری؟ (mikhay ye khargush be onvan-e heyvan-e khanegi negah dari?) “Do you want to keep a rabbit as a pet?”
Cultural note
The خرگوش appears in classical Persian fables, most famously in a well-known story from Kelileh va Demneh where a clever hare outwits a lion by tricking him into looking at his own reflection in a well. The image of the rabbit as a quick-witted and resourceful creature runs through Persian folk literature. In everyday speech, خرگوشی (khargushi) is sometimes used to describe something unusually soft or fluffy, the way a rabbit’s fur feels.