What it means
محکوم (mahkum) means convicted, condemned, or sentenced. It is borrowed from Arabic محكوم (mahkūm), the passive participle of the root ح-ك-م (h-k-m, to judge or rule). In legal Persian, محکوم refers to a person against whom a court has issued a verdict of guilt, making them subject to a sentence. The opposite is تبرئهشده (tabri’e shodeh), meaning acquitted. Beyond the courtroom, محکوم is also used figuratively, as in محکوم به شکست (mahkum be shekast), meaning doomed to fail.
How to use it
- اون به پنج سال زندان محکوم شد. (oon be panj sâl zendân mahkum shod.) “He was sentenced to five years in prison.”
- دادگاه اون رو محکوم کرد. (dâdgâh oon ro mahkum kard.) “The court convicted him.”
- این پروژه از اول محکوم به شکست بود. (in projeh az avval mahkum be shekast bud.) “This project was doomed to fail from the start.”
- محکوم میتونه به حکم اعتراض کنه. (mahkum mitune be hokm e’terâz kone.) “The convicted person can appeal the verdict.”
Cultural note
Iranian court proceedings produce a حکم (hokm), a ruling or sentence, and the person on the receiving end becomes the محکوم. Persian speakers also use محکوم کردن as a verb meaning to condemn something morally, for example in political speeches or social commentary, which gives the word a reach beyond purely legal contexts. The Arabic root ح-ك-م is one of the most productive roots in Persian legal vocabulary, also giving rise to حاکم (ruler), حکومت (government), and حکم (verdict or decree).