What it means
مهندسی (mohandesi) means engineering or the field of engineering as a profession and discipline. The noun derives from مهندس (mohandes), meaning engineer, which is borrowed from Arabic muhandis, a word meaning one who draws geometric lines or one who practices geometry. Arabic handasa (geometry) derives from Persian andāza, meaning measure or dimension, a borrowing that entered Arabic during the Abbasid translation movement when Persian mathematical knowledge passed into Arabic-language scholarship. In Persian, مهندسی is the standard formal word for engineering in every field: civil, mechanical, electrical, and so on. In everyday speech Iranians also use مهندس as a title of respect for any engineer, sometimes extending it informally to professionals and educated men generally.
How to use it
- دارم مهندسی عمران میخونم. (dâram mohandesi-ye omrân mikhunam.) “I am studying civil engineering.”
- مهندسی برق بازار کار خوبی داره. (mohandesi-ye barq bâzâr-e kâr-e khubi dâre.) “Electrical engineering has a good job market.”
- دانشکدهی مهندسی دانشگاه تهران خیلی معروفه. (dâneshkade-ye mohandesi-ye dâneshgâh-e Tehrân kheyli ma’rufe.) “The engineering faculty of Tehran University is very well known.”
- این پروژه به مهندسی دقیق نیاز داره. (in projet be mohandesi-ye daqiq niyâz dâre.) “This project requires precise engineering.”
Cultural note
Engineering has held exceptional prestige in Iranian society for decades. Families across the socioeconomic spectrum have historically pushed children toward مهندسی or پزشکی (pezheshki, medicine) as the two most respected university paths, and the national university entrance examination, the کنکور (konkur), routes top-scoring students into engineering programs first. The University of Tehran’s Faculty of Engineering, founded in 1934, was one of the first modern institutions of its kind in the country and remains a symbol of national technical ambition. The Persian root of handasa is a reminder that Persian-speaking scholars were central figures in transmitting and advancing mathematical and geometrical knowledge during the Islamic Golden Age, with their vocabulary absorbed into Arabic and then returned in new morphological dress.