خط

What it means

خط (khatt) has a wide cluster of meanings that all radiate from a common core: a line or a stroke. The word is borrowed from Arabic خَطّ (khatt), which itself carried the meanings of line, writing, script, and handwriting. In Persian خط can mean a physical line drawn on paper, the script or writing system of a language (خط فارسی, Farsi script; خط عربی, Arabic script), a person’s individual handwriting (خطت خوبه, your handwriting is good), or a telephone or communication line (خط تلفن, phone line; خط اشغاله, the line is busy). خط کشیدن (khatt keshidan) means to draw a line, and figuratively to draw a boundary or cut ties. خط خوردن (khatt khordan) means to be crossed out or struck through.

How to use it

• خط مستقیم بکش. (khatt-e mostaghim bekesh.) “Draw a straight line.”
• خطت خیلی خوبه. (khatt-et kheyli khube.) “Your handwriting is really good.”
• خط تلفنم قطع شد. (khatt-e telefonam ghat’ shod.) “My phone line got cut off.”
• خط اشغاله، بعداً زنگ بزن. (khatt eshghâle, ba’dan zang bezan.) “The line is busy, call back later.”

Cultural note

Persian calligraphy, خوشنویسی (khoshnivisi, beautiful writing), treats خط as a sacred art form. The major Persian calligraphic scripts, nastaliq, naskh, shekaste, and others, are each called a خط, and mastering one requires years of disciplined practice. The phrase خط و نشون کشیدن (khatt o neshun keshidan), literally drawing lines and marks, means to issue a warning or make a threat, showing how deeply the concept of drawing a line is woven into everyday figurative speech. In administrative Persian, خط قرمز (khatt-e ghermez, red line) is a boundary not to be crossed, identical in metaphor to its English equivalent.

References

• Dehkhoda
• Vajehyab