خرداد (khordâd) closes Persian spring, May 22 to June 21, named for the Zoroastrian guardian of wholeness, health, and waters.
What it actually means
خرداد is the third month of the Iranian solar calendar, running May 22 to June 21. It marks the end of spring and the slide into summer. Tehran starts heating up, schools wind down, and the long Iranian summer holiday looms. The month also carries political weight in modern Iran: 15 خرداد (15 Khordad) is the date of the 1963 uprising in Qom, an event official narratives describe as a key step toward the 1979 revolution. So the word has a calendar sense (a month) and a political-memory sense (a date).
How to say it
Formal
khordâd
“third month, May-June”
خرداد
Colloquial (Tehrani)
khordâd
no register shift
خرداد
How to use it
- خرداد امتحان دارم. · khordâd emtehân dâram. · I have exams in Khordad.
- پنجم خرداد قرارداد بستیم. · panjom-e khordâd qarârdâd bastim. · We signed the contract on the 5th of Khordad.
- پانزده خرداد تعطیله. · pânzdah-e khordâd ta’tile. · The 15th of Khordad is a public holiday.
Common pairings
- خرداد ماه (khordâd-mâh) “the month of Khordad”
- پانزده خرداد (pânzdah-e khordâd) “the 15th of Khordad” (a politically loaded date)
- اواخر خرداد (avâkher-e khordâd) “late Khordad”
- امتحانات خرداد (emtehânât-e khordâd) “Khordad exams” (the spring exam term)
Where it comes from
خرداد comes from Avestan Haurvatat, “wholeness, health, perfection”. In Zoroastrian theology, Haurvatat is one of the six Amesha Spentas and the Yazata of waters, vegetation, and bodily integrity, paired with Ameretat (immortality, the source of the month name مرداد). The Sasanian calendar dedicated this month to Haurvatat, and the name carried forward into modern Persian. The Yazata pairing is structural: Khordad (wholeness) and Mordad (immortality) sit two months apart in the calendar, the same pair Zoroastrians invoked together in liturgy. Most Iranians today don’t know this etymology, but they say the name a few times a week.
Cultural note
The 15 خرداد uprising of 1342 (June 5, 1963) followed the arrest of Ayatollah Khomeini and is treated in official Iranian historiography as a precursor to the 1979 revolution. The date is a public holiday. Iranians of every political position know the phrase پانزده خرداد without needing further context. The month also marks the end of the spring exam season for Iranian students, and the phrase امتحانات خرداد carries the same weight for school-age Iranians as “finals week” does in English.
Related
The paired month: مرداد (mordâd). Adjacent: اردیبهشت (ordibehesht), تیر (tir). For the calendar, see the Persian time vocabulary guide.
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