موبایل
mobayl
mobile, cell phone
nounA1
Quick Reference
mo-BAYL
mobile, cell phone
A1 — Absolute Beginner
موبایل pronounced by Elyar
What it means
موبایل (mobâyl) means “mobile phone, cell phone.” Direct English loanword adopted in the late 1990s as cellular networks expanded across Iran. Foundation A1 vocabulary in spoken Persian; formal contexts use تلفن همراه (telefon-e hamrâh).
How to use it
- موبایلت کجاست؟ (mobâylet kojâst?) “Where is your mobile?”
- شماره موبایلم را بگیر (shomâre-ye mobâylam râ begir) “Take my mobile number”
- موبایلم شارژ نداره (mobâylam shârzh nadâre) “My phone is out of charge”
Common pairings
- گوشی (gushi) “handset, phone” (more common in colloquial speech)
- تلفن همراه (telefon-e hamrâh) “mobile phone” (formal)
- سیمکارت (sim-kârt) “SIM card”
- شارژر (shârzher) “charger”
Etymology
From English “mobile” (Latin mobilis, “movable”). Persian phonology imports it nearly intact, with the long â vowel marking the stressed syllable. Synonym گوشی (gushi, literally “earpiece”) is now the more common spoken word among younger Iranians.
References
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Englishmobile (phone)Direct source. Entered Persian in the mid-to-late 1990s as cellular networks rolled out in Iran. Widely used alongside the native synonym همراه (hamrâh, companion), which remains common in formal usage (تلفن همراه telefon-e hamrâh).
Latin (ultimate)mobilis (movable)From movere (to move). The semantic shift from movable to portable phone happened in English in the 1980s.
Connected Words