What it means
معده (me’de) is the stomach, the organ inside your body that digests food. The word is borrowed from Arabic, where it has the same meaning, and it is the standard, slightly clinical term Persians use when talking about the actual organ. In everyday speech people often blur it with شکم (shekam), meaning the belly or tummy, but strictly speaking شکم is the outer belly while معده is the digestive organ inside it.
How to use it
- معدهام درد میکنه (me’de-am dard mikone) “my stomach hurts”
- روی معدهی خالی دارو نخور (ru-ye me’de-ye khali daru nakhor) “do not take medicine on an empty stomach”
- معدهام ضعیفه (me’de-am za’ife) “my stomach is weak”
- این غذا به معدهام نمیسازه (in ghaza be me’de-am nemisaze) “this food does not agree with my stomach”
Cultural note
In casual conversation many Persians say دل (del) or شکم (shekam) for a tummy ache even when the real source is the stomach, so دلم درد میکنه (delam dard mikone) often means the same thing as a stomachache. معده is the word you reach for in a clinical or precise setting, such as at the doctor or pharmacy. Conditions like ناراحتی معده (narahati-ye me’de), stomach upset, and زخم معده (zakhm-e me’de), stomach ulcer, use this exact word.