What it means
متنفر (motanafer) is the active adjective meaning hating or loathing, always used with the preposition از (az, from/of) to name the object of the hatred. It comes from the Arabic Form V verb tanaffara (تنفّر), built on the same root n-f-r (نفر) that gives Persian نفرت (nefrat). The Form V pattern in Arabic typically indicates a reflexive or intensive process, something like becoming repelled or making oneself flee from something. In Persian, متنفر functions as a stable predicate adjective. You do not conjugate it as a verb on its own; instead you pair it with بودن (budan, to be): متنفر بودن, to be disgusted by. It is more personal and state-focused than نفرت داشتن, which emphasizes the possession of hatred.
How to use it
- از این آدم متنفرم (az in âdam motanafaram) “I hate this person”
- متنفر از دروغ و ریاست (motanafar az dorug o riyâ-st) “He’s disgusted by lying and hypocrisy”
- چرا اینقدر از خودت متنفری؟ (cherâ inghadr az khodat motanafari?) “Why do you hate yourself so much?”
- از اون روز از کارم متنفر شدم (az un ruz az kâram motanafar shodam) “From that day I came to hate my work”
Cultural note
متنفر is the most direct way to express personal hatred in standard Persian. It is neutral enough in register to appear in formal writing, journalism, and speech, while remaining fully natural in spoken conversation. The phrase از خود متنفر بودن, to hate oneself, is used across everyday and professional contexts in Persian, which points to how the word bridges formal and personal registers. Its Arabic morphological origin is transparent to any speaker familiar with Arabic, but native Persian speakers use it without any sense of it being a foreign word.