نیاز

What it means

نیاز (niyâz) means need, necessity, or want. It is an inherited Persian word, present in Middle Persian, carrying the core meaning of something that is required or lacks. The compound verb نیاز داشتن (niyâz dâshtan) means to need or to have need of something, and it is the standard way to express necessity in everyday Persian. نیاز نیست (niyâz nist) means there is no need, a phrase used to politely decline an offer or to tell someone not to bother. In literary and spiritual Persian the word extends into a softer register: نیاز can mean longing, supplication, or humble petition, the kind of need that one feels before God or in the depths of love. Poets use it in this sense. A close synonym in everyday speech is احتیاج (ehtiyâj), an Arabic borrowing also meaning need, which is interchangeable with نیاز in most contexts though slightly more formal in tone.

How to use it

• نیاز دارم بدونم چی شد. (niyâz dâram bedânam chi shod.) “I need to know what happened.”
• نیازی نیست این همه زحمت بکشی. (niyâzi nist in hame zahmat bekeshi.) “There is no need for you to go to all this trouble.”
• به کمک نیاز داری؟ (be komak niyâz dâri?) “Do you need help?”
• بدون آب نیاز بدنم برآورده نمیشه. (bedun-e âb niyâz-e badanam bar-âvarde nemishe.) “Without water my body’s needs cannot be met.”

Cultural note

In Persian Sufi poetry, نیاز is paired with its opposite ناز (nâz), where نیاز means humble need or supplication and نیاز stands on the side of the lover, while ناز means coyness or the power to be courted and belongs to the beloved. This pairing appears throughout the ghazal tradition and gives the word a philosophical weight beyond its everyday meaning. When a speaker calls themselves نیازمند (niyâzmand, needy or in want), there can be a tinge of that poetic humility even in ordinary conversation.

References

• Dehkhoda
• Vajehyab