What it means
مجاور (mojâvar) means adjacent, neighboring, or next to. The word is borrowed from Arabic مُجَاوِر (mojâvar), an active participle of the root J-W-R, which means to be near or to border. In Arabic the word also carries the specific meaning of someone who lives near or resides beside a holy site, but in Persian everyday use it describes simple spatial adjacency. ساختمان مجاور (sâkhtemân-e mojâvar) means the adjacent building, and مجاور بودن (mojâvar budan) means to be next to something. The derived noun مجاورت (mojâvarat) means adjacency, proximity, or the state of being next to something, and appears in formal writing and urban planning documents.
How to use it
- ساختمان مجاور ما داره بازسازی میشه. (sâkhtemân-e mojâvar-e mâ dâre bâzsâzi mishe.) “The building next to ours is being renovated.”
- این پارک با خیابون اصلی مجاوره. (in pârk bâ khiyâbun-e asli mojâvare.) “This park is adjacent to the main street.”
- در مجاورت مسجد زندگی میکنه. (dar mojâvarat-e masjed zendegi mikone.) “He lives in the vicinity of the mosque.”
- زمین مجاور فروشه. (zamin-e mojâvar forushie.) “The adjacent plot of land is for sale.”
Cultural note
In formal Persian, مجاور appears frequently in legal property documents, urban planning texts, and official notices where ساختمان مجاور or زمین مجاور (adjacent land) defines boundaries and rights. In colloquial speech, Iranians more often say کنار (kenâr, next to, beside) or همسایه (hamsâye, neighbor), and مجاور marks a speaker as using formal or written register. The Arabic sense of residing near a holy site (as in مجاور کعبه, residing near the Kaaba) is occasionally preserved in classical Persian texts and religious contexts, but is not the meaning a modern Iranian would first reach for.
References
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