مثل

What it means

مثل (mesl) functions as a preposition and adverb of comparison. It is the everyday word for “like” or “similar to” and also slides into the role of “for example” or “such as” in informal speech. When a speaker wants to draw a parallel between two things, mesl is the natural connector: مثل تو (mesl-e to, like you), مثلاً (masalan, for example, a derived form). The formal written equivalent is مانند (mânand) or همانند (hamânand), but in spoken Persian mesl is what people actually say. The word is also used intensively to mean “exactly like” or “just like,” especially when you want to stress similarity: مثل آب خوردن (mesl-e âb khordan, like drinking water, meaning effortlessly easy) is a fixed idiomatic phrase.

How to use it

• مثل تو کسی ندیدم (mesl-e to kasi nadidam) “I have never seen anyone like you.”
• مثل بچه گریه کرد (mesl-e bachche gerye kard) “He cried like a child.”
• یه چیزی مثل پیتزا می‌خوام (ye chizi mesl-e pitza mikhâm) “I want something like pizza.”
• مثلاً چی؟ (masalan chi?) “Like what, for example?”

Cultural note

مثل is also the Persian word for proverb or saying, from the same Arabic root. So when Iranians cite a proverb they say مثل ایرانی (mesl-e irâni) or just یه مثلی هست (ye mesli hast, there is a saying). The two uses, comparison particle and proverb/saying, share the same form and most speakers move between them without noticing. In written Persian, mânand is preferred for formal comparison, and mesl is considered colloquial, but in speech the distinction is rarely maintained.

References

• Dehkhoda
• Vajehyab