معلوم

What it means

معلوم (ma’lum) is an adjective meaning known, evident, or obvious. It is borrowed from Arabic مَعْلُوم (ma’lum), the passive participle of the verb عَلِمَ (alima, to know), from the root ‘-L-M, which also gives Persian عِلم (elm, knowledge or science). The literal sense is therefore what is known or that which has been made known. In practical Persian use, معلومه (ma’lume, colloquial contracted form of معلوم است) and معلوم است (ma’lum ast, formal) function as standalone phrases meaning obviously, of course, or it is clear. They can be used to affirm a shared assumption or, with the right tone, to signal mild impatience that something should have been obvious. The adjective also appears in compound constructions like نامعلوم (nâ-ma’lum), meaning unknown.

How to use it

• معلومه که دیر شده (ma’lume ke dir shode) “Obviously it is late” or “It is clear that we are late.”
• معلوم نیست کجا رفته (ma’lum nist kojâ rafte) “It is not known where he went.”
• معلومه! چرا میپرسی؟ (ma’lume! cherâ miporsi?) “Obviously! Why are you even asking?”
• آدرسش معلوم نیست (âdress-ash ma’lum nist) “Their address is unknown.”

Cultural note

معلومه is one of those short Persian responses that carries a great deal of conversational freight. Said calmly, it is a simple affirmation. Said with emphasis or mild exasperation, it becomes a way of signaling that a question was unnecessary or that the answer should have been self-evident. Persian speakers calibrate its force through tone rather than word choice, so learners need to pay attention to delivery as much as vocabulary when they encounter it.

References

• Dehkhoda
• Vajehyab