What it means
منطقی (manteghi) means logical, reasonable, sensible. The adjective applies to people (a manteghi person is calm and rational), to arguments (a manteghi argument has coherent steps), to decisions (a manteghi decision weighs the facts), and to behavior (a manteghi reaction is proportionate, not hysterical). It is the everyday word for what passes the test of reason.
The opposite, غیرمنطقی (gheyr-manteghi, illogical, unreasonable), is its mirror image and shows up almost as often. The two words travel in pairs in arguments: یعنی چی؟ منطقی نیست (yaʿni chi? manteghi nist, what does that even mean? it’s not logical) and منطقی فکر کن (manteghi fekr kon, think logically) are stock phrases in any Iranian disagreement.
How to use it
Three frames. As a predicate adjective: این منطقیست (in manteghi-st, this is logical). As an attributive: یه آدم منطقی (ye ādam-e manteghi, a logical person). And as a stance verb: منطقی فکر کن (manteghi fekr kon, think rationally), منطقی رفتار کن (manteghi raftār kon, behave reasonably).
harf-esh manteghi bud, vali ghabul nakardam.
His argument was logical, but I didn’t accept it.
حرفش منطقی بود، ولی قبول نکردم.
tasmim-e manteghi miguyam ke maʿquline.
I would call it a logical decision that makes sense.
تصمیم منطقی میگویم که معقولینه.
lotfan manteghi bāsh.
Please be reasonable.
لطفاً منطقی باش.
Where it comes from
Manteghi is the adjective form of منطق (manteq, logic), built with the productive Arabic adjectival suffix ـی (-i, of, relating to). The root is n-t-q (ن-ط-ق), which in Arabic carries the senses of speech, articulation, rational expression. Manteq itself is the discipline of logic, the Aristotelian science that came into Persian through the Arabic translations of the Greek philosophical corpus during the Abbasid period. Manteghi names anything that conforms to that discipline.
In our voice
Iranians value being seen as manteghi. Calling someone manteghi is a compliment; calling them gheyr-manteghi or non-manteghi is a real criticism that says they are letting emotion run the argument. The word is a marker in arguments: when someone says ببین، منطقی نگاه کن (bebin, manteghi negāh kon, look, see this logically), they are claiming the high ground of reason.
References
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