What it means
مار (mâr) is the standard Persian word for snake. It is a native word with Avestan and Old Iranian roots, unchanged in meaning for thousands of years. The word applies to all snakes, venomous or not, wild or kept. A close compound is مارمولک (mârmulak), meaning lizard, which begins with the same root. In colloquial speech you will sometimes hear افعی (af’i) used specifically for a venomous viper, but مار is the default everyday term for any snake.
How to use it
- یه مار تو باغ دیدم. (Ye mâr tu bâgh didam.) “I saw a snake in the garden.”
- از مار میترسم. (Az mâr mitersam.) “I am afraid of snakes.”
- مار گزیدن خیلی دردناکه. (Mâr gazidan kheyli dardnâke.) “A snakebite is very painful.”
- اون مار سمی نیست. (Oon mâr sammi nist.) “That snake is not venomous.”
Cultural note
In Iranian mythology the snake has an ambivalent reputation. The tyrant Zahhak, a central figure in Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh, had two snakes growing from his shoulders, and the image became the archetypal symbol of evil rule. At the same time, snakes appear in older Iranian cosmology as guardians of the earth and water, and some rural communities historically treated certain non-venomous house snakes as protective spirits. In contemporary Persian, calling someone مار (mâr) is a sharp insult meaning treacherous or untrustworthy.