What it means
مزرعه (mazrae) means “farm” or “a field under cultivation.” Like زراعت (zarâat), it comes from the Arabic root ز-ر-ع (z-r-a, “to sow”), specifically as a noun of place, meaning “the location where sowing happens.” This Arabic grammatical pattern, known as ism makân, is common in Persian vocabulary for places: مزرعه is literally “the place of cultivation.” In everyday speech you will hear مزرعه used for a farm with crops, while for a farm with animals Iranians might say گله (galle) or use مزرعه in context. A similar and also common word is مزرعهدار (mazraedâr), meaning “farmer” or “farm owner.”
How to use it
- بابام یه مزرعه بزرگ داره. (bâbâm ye mazrae-ye bozorg dâre.) “My dad has a big farm.”
- مزرعه پر از گندم بود. (mazrae por az gandom bud.) “The field was full of wheat.”
- تابستون رفتیم مزرعه عمو. (tâbestun raftim mazrae-ye amu.) “In summer we went to my uncle’s farm.”
- آب از رودخونه به مزرعه میرسه. (âb az rudkhune be mazrae mirese.) “Water reaches the farm from the river.”
Cultural note
The image of the mazrae, a patchwork of irrigated fields surrounded by mountains or desert, is iconic across the Iranian landscape. Historically, the qanât system (underground aqueducts) made farming possible in arid regions, and many village farms depended on carefully managed shared water rights. The word mazrae also appears in place names across Iran and Afghanistan, reflecting just how central cultivated land has been to settlement patterns. In Afghan Persian (Dari), mazrae is equally common and carries the same meaning.