What it means
ناعدالتی (nâ’adâlati) means injustice, unfairness, or the absence of justice. The word is built from three parts: the Persian prefix نا (nâ), which negates a concept, the Arabic loanword عدالت (adâlat, meaning justice, itself from the Arabic root عدل meaning to be equal or fair), and the Persian abstract suffix ی (-i). This cross-origin construction, Persian negation wrapped around an Arabic core, is extremely common in Persian and produces a natural, neutral register word used across formal writing, news, and everyday conversation. The direct opposite is عدالت (adâlat), and a close synonym is بیانصافی (bi-ensâfi), which leans more toward personal unfairness in dealings.
How to use it
- این حکم آشکارا ناعدالتیه. (in hokm âshkârâ nâ’adâlati-ye.) “This verdict is obvious injustice.”
- مردم از ناعدالتی خسته شدن. (mardom az nâ’adâlati khaste shodan.) “People got tired of injustice.”
- نمیتونم ناعدالتی رو ببینم و ساکت بمونم. (nemi-tunam nâ’adâlati ro bebinam va sâket bemoonam.) “I can’t see injustice and stay silent.”
- ناعدالتی اجتماعی یه مشکل جهانیه. (nâ’adâlati-ye ejtema’i ye moshkel-e jahâni-ye.) “Social injustice is a global problem.”
Cultural note
Protest against injustice runs deep in Persian literary and political culture. Classical poets like Hafez and Saadi criticized unjust rulers obliquely through metaphor, while modern Persian literature and political speech use ناعدالتی directly and frequently. The concept of عدل (justice) is also one of the five pillars of Shia theology, which gives discussions of injustice a theological as well as civic dimension in Iranian discourse. In contemporary speech, the word appears often in commentary on economic inequality, legal outcomes, and workplace situations.