What it means
مستقیم (mostaghim) means “straight,” “direct,” or “straight ahead.” It comes from Arabic mustaqim, built on the root q-w-m (standing upright), and entered Persian as a loanword. In navigation and directions it means going straight without turning. In broader use it also means “direct” in the sense of a non-stop route or a straightforward relationship (e.g. ارتباط مستقیم, ertebât-e mostaghim, “direct contact”). Its pure Persian near-synonym is راست (râst), which is more common in casual speech, while مستقیم is more frequent in formal or written Persian.
How to use it
- مستقیم برو تا به میدون برسی. (mostaghim boro tâ be meydun beresi.) “Go straight until you reach the square.”
- پرواز مستقیم داریم یا نه؟ (parvâz-e mostaghim dârim yâ na?) “Do we have a direct flight or not?”
- خیابون کاملاً مستقیمه. (khiâbun kâmelan mostaghime.) “The street is completely straight.”
- با مدیر ارتباط مستقیم داشت. (bâ modir ertebât-e mostaghim dâsht.) “He had direct contact with the manager.”
Cultural note
مستقیم appears in the Quran in the phrase الصراط المستقیم (as-serât al-mostaghim, “the straight path”), which is recited in Islamic prayer daily. Because of this, the word carries a faint spiritual resonance for many Persian speakers, even in mundane navigational contexts. Street signs and GPS devices in Iran typically use مستقیم rather than the native راست when indicating “straight ahead,” giving the Arabic-origin form an official register that the pure Persian word lacks in writing.