What it means
خروس (khurus) is the Persian word for rooster or cockerel, the adult male of the domestic chicken. The word descends from Middle Persian xrōs, making it a native Iranian term with deep historical roots. It entered Old Anatolian Turkish as ḫoros, showing that Persian exported the word rather than borrowing it. The female counterpart is مرغ (morgh, hen), and the young chick is جوجه (juje). A close synonym in very formal or literary writing is دیک (dik), borrowed from Arabic, but خروس is the universal everyday term across all of Iran.
How to use it
- خروس داشت بانگ میزد. (Khurus dâsht bâng mizad.) “The rooster was crowing.”
- صبح زود خروسها بیدارم کردن. (Sobh zud khurusâ bidâram kardan.) “The roosters woke me up early in the morning.”
- تو حیاطشون چند تا خروس دارن. (To hayâteshun chand tâ khurus dâran.) “They have several roosters in their yard.”
- خروس قرمز خیلی باهوشه. (Khurus-e qermez kheyli bâhushe.) “The red rooster is very smart.”
Cultural note
The خروس holds a meaningful place in Iranian culture and symbolism. In Zoroastrian tradition, the crowing of the rooster at dawn was seen as a divine call driving away evil spirits and announcing the victory of light over darkness, a role the bird played in Avestan texts. The خروس also appears in Persian proverbs: خروس بیمحل (khurus-e bi-mahal), literally a rooster crowing at the wrong time, is an idiom for someone who speaks out of turn. In rural Iran, keeping خروس alongside hens remains common on family properties.