مست

There is a separate entry for ماست (mâst, “yogurt”). The two words share the same consonant frame in writing but carry different vowels and unrelated meanings. This entry covers مست (mast), the Sufi-poetic word for “drunk, intoxicated, ecstatic.”

What it means

مست (mast) means “drunk, intoxicated, ecstatic, ravished.” Pure Persian root, ancient. The literal sense is physical drunkenness, but in classical poetry the word almost always carries a mystical second meaning: drunk on divine love, drunk on the wine of union with God, drunk on the beloved’s beauty. Hafez, Rumi, Sa’di, Khayyam all use it constantly, and almost never about literal alcohol.

How to use it

• مست عشق (mast-e eshq) “drunk on love”
• مست خدا (mast-e khodâ) “drunk on God, drunk in God”
• مست و خراب (mast-o kharâb) “drunk and ruined”
• چشم‌های مست (cheshm-hâ-ye mast) “intoxicating eyes, eyes that intoxicate”
• مست و دیوانه (mast-o divâne) “drunk and mad”

The Sufi register

In Sufi poetry, مست is one of the central technical terms. The Sufi seeker drinks the wine of mystical knowledge and becomes mast, intoxicated with the divine. The wine in question is not literal. Rumi writes whole ghazals built on this metaphor. Hafez signs his name to lines about being mast in the tavern of love, and the tavern is the heart, and the wine is the presence of God. Reading Hafez without recognizing this register flattens the poetry into something it is not.

Cultural note

Modern Iranians still hear both meanings when they read مست in a poem. A young Iranian saying مست عشق (mast-e eshq) about a new relationship is borrowing the Sufi register on purpose. The word carries a thousand years of mystical poetry inside it. Modern songs by Shajarian, Homayoun Shajarian, and pop artists quote Hafez and Rumi lines about being mast, and the audience knows exactly which kind of drunkenness is meant. The word is not about alcohol. It is about being so taken by something that the ordinary self dissolves.

Distinguishing مست from ماست

Worth repeating because beginners confuse them often. مست (mast) has a short “a” vowel, like the “u” in English “but.” The word means “drunk, ecstatic.” ماست (mâst) has a long “â” vowel, like the “a” in English “father.” The word means “yogurt.” Same three consonants م-س-ت but different vowel length, different word, different meaning. Persian script does not always mark the short vowel, so the same letters م-س-ت can read as either word depending on context. Iranians read context to disambiguate. A line of Hafez is mast. A breakfast plate is mâst. Mix them up and you get poems about yogurt or a sentence claiming the dairy section is drunk on God.