خدا

What it means

خدا (khodâ) means “God.” Pure Persian, A1 vocabulary, neutral register. The word used by Iranians of every faith, Muslims, Christians, Zoroastrians, Jews, Bahais, and the dominant everyday word for God in spoken Persian.

How to use it

• خدا حافظ (khodâ hâfez) “God protect (you), goodbye”
• خدا را شکر (khodâ râ shokr) “thanks be to God”
• به خدا (be khodâ) “I swear by God” (everyday emphasis)

Common pairings

• خدای من (khodâ-ye man) “my God”
• خداحافظی (khodâhâfezi) “saying goodbye”
• خدایا (khodâyâ) “O God!” (vocative)
• خداوند (khodâvand) “Lord, the Lord God” (more formal)
• الله (allâh) “God” (Arabic, Islamic context)

Etymology

From Middle Persian xwadāy (“lord”), from Proto-Iranian *hwatā́wHā (“lord, god”). The Avestan cognate xᵛaδāta (“self-determined, self-existent”) preserves the older sense, “the one who exists by himself.” The same Persian word خدا appears in the term شاهنشاه خدا (shâhanshâh-e khodâ, “king of kings, the lord”) in classical poetry. The dominance of خدا over the Arabic الله in everyday Persian is a quiet marker of Persian linguistic continuity through Islamic history.

References

• Dehkhoda
• Vajehyab
• Wiktionary: خدا