What it means
ماشین درو (mâshin-e derow) is the combine harvester, the large machine that cuts and threshes grain crops in a single pass across the field. The phrase joins ماشین (mâshin), borrowed from French «machine», with درو (derow), the pure Persian word for reaping or harvesting grain. The two words together, linked by the ezâfe particle -e, form a compound noun phrase. In formal or technical contexts you may also hear کمباین (kombâyn), borrowed from the English «combine», but ماشین درو is the fully Persian-rooted phrase and widely understood by farmers and rural speakers alike.
How to use it
- ماشین درو این هفته میاد مزرعه. (Mâshin-e derow in hafte miyâd mazra’e.) “The combine harvester is coming to the farm this week.”
- بدون ماشین درو گندم رو نمیشه جمع کرد. (Bedune mâshin-e derow gandom ro nemishe jam’ kard.) “Without a harvesting machine the wheat cannot be collected.”
- ماشین درو خراب شد و کار متوقف شد. (Mâshin-e derow kharâb shod o kâr motavaqqef shod.) “The harvester broke down and work stopped.”
- رانندهٔ ماشین درو از سپیدهدم شروع کرد. (Rânnandeh-ye mâshin-e derow az sepidedâm shoru’ kard.) “The harvester driver started at dawn.”
Cultural note
Before mechanized harvesting arrived in Iran, grain was cut by hand using a داس (dâs, sickle) and threshed on an open خرمنگاه (kharman-gâh, threshing floor). The introduction of ماشین درو in the mid-twentieth century transformed agriculture in the wheat-growing plains of Khuzestan, Kurdistan, and the central plateau, dramatically reducing the labor needed at harvest time. Today, large cooperatives and agribusiness operations rely on fleets of these machines during the short harvest window each spring and summer.