What it means
مجازات (mojâzât) means punishment, legal penalty, or sentence. It comes from Arabic, from the root ج-ز-ی (j-z-y), related to جزا (jazâ, recompense or retribution) and the familiar word جریمه (jarime, fine). The Persian verb form is مجازات کردن (mojâzât kardan), meaning to punish or to penalise. A near-synonym is کیفر (kifar), a pure Persian word for punishment that appears in formal legal terminology, such as in the name قانون مجازات اسلامی (qânun-e mojâzât-e eslâmi), the Islamic Penal Code of Iran, which pairs the Arabic loanword with the formal legal system. In everyday speech, Iranians might say تنبیه (tanbih) for a lighter punishment like a school detention, but for criminal sentences mojâzât is the correct term.
How to use it
- مجازاتش سه سال زندانه. (mojâzâtash se sâl zendâne.) “His sentence is three years in prison.”
- این جرم مجازات سنگینی داره. (in jorm mojâzât-e sangini dâre.) “This crime carries a heavy penalty.”
- دادگاه رأی به مجازات متهم داد. (dâdgâh ra’y be mojâzât-e motaham dâd.) “The court ruled to punish the defendant.”
- قانون مجازات اسلامی رو خوندهای؟ (qânun-e mojâzât-e eslâmi ro khunde-i?) “Have you read the Islamic Penal Code?”
Cultural note
قانون مجازات اسلامی (qânun-e mojâzât-e eslâmi), the Islamic Penal Code, is the primary criminal law framework in the Islamic Republic of Iran and was significantly revised in 2013. It defines categories of punishment including حدود (hodud, fixed punishments prescribed in Islamic law), قصاص (qesâs, retributive justice), دیه (diye, blood money), and تعزیرات (ta’zirât, discretionary punishments). For Farsi learners engaging with Iranian news or legal texts, understanding this vocabulary cluster around mojâzât is essential for comprehension of any courtroom or criminal justice coverage.