What it means
کوچک (kuchik) means small, little, or young. It comes from Turkic, specifically from the Turkish word “küçük” meaning small, and entered Persian as a fully integrated everyday word. In casual speech you will hear it used for size, age, and sometimes importance: a younger sibling is a برادر کوچک (barâdar kuchik), and a minor problem is a مشکل کوچک (moshkel kuchik). Its opposite is بزرگ (bozorg), meaning large or old. In formal or written Persian the word ریز (riz) sometimes replaces it for small physical size, but کوچک is far more common in speech.
How to use it
- این آپارتمان خیلی کوچیکه. (In âpârtmân kheyli kuchike.) “This apartment is very small.”
- یه کم کوچکتر بیار. (Ye kam kuchiktar biâr.) “Bring one that is a bit smaller.”
- اون کوچیکترین بچهی خانوادهست. (Oon kuchiktarin bacheh-ye khânevâde-st.) “He is the youngest child in the family.”
- مشکل کوچکیه، حلش میکنم. (Moshkel kuchikihe, halesh mikonam.) “It is a small problem, I will fix it.”
Cultural note
In Persian family culture, being the کوچیکه (kuchike), the youngest child, carries a distinct social role. The youngest often receives extra affection and is sometimes called upon to lighten the mood. Age hierarchy is taken seriously in Iranian families, so the labels بزرگتر (bozorgtar, the elder) and کوچیکتر (kuchiktar, the younger) carry real social weight, not just descriptive meaning.