What it means
نثر (nasr) means prose: written or spoken language that does not follow a regular metrical pattern, as opposed to شعر (she’r), poetry. The word comes from Arabic نَثَر, which means to scatter or spread, capturing the idea of words spread freely without the constraint of meter. In Persian literary criticism نثر covers everything from medieval court prose and Sufi treatises to modern novels, journalism, and everyday writing. Its direct opposite is نظم (nazm), meaning verse or metered poetry.
How to use it
- این کتاب به نثر نوشته شده. (In ketâb be nasr neveshte shode.) “This book is written in prose.”
- نثر فارسی از قرن چهارم هجری غنیه. (Nasr-e Fârsi az qarn-e chahârom-e hejri qaniye.) “Persian prose has been rich since the fourth Islamic century.”
- اون نثر مینویسه نه شعر. (Un nasr minevishe na she’r.) “She writes prose, not poetry.”
- این نثر خیلی ادیبانهست. (In nasr kheyli adibâne-st.) “This prose is very literary.”
Cultural note
Classical Persian prose reached a high point with works such as the Golestan of Saadi, written in the thirteenth century, which blends prose and verse in a style so admired that it became a model for Persian writing for centuries. In the modern era, writers such as Sadegh Hedayat and Simin Daneshvar established Persian fiction as a serious literary form. Iranian school curricula treat the contrast between نثر and نظم as a foundational distinction in Persian literary education.