کسخل
Kos-khol (کسخل) literally means ‘pussy-crazy.’ Strength 3/5. Vulgar on its face but in living usage often affectionate, applied to friends doing something silly. The clearest entry point into how Persian profanity softens with intimacy.
Glossary
کسکش
Kos-kesh (کسکش) literally means ‘pussy-puller’ or pimp. Strength 5/5. The Persian fighting word; saying it to someone’s face starts the fight. Among extremely close male friends it can flip into a perverse term of endearment.
کس
Kos (کس) is the vulgar Persian word for vulva or vagina. Strength 5/5. The single most generative profane root in Persian, parent of kos-kesh, kos-khol, kos-she’r, and kos-magh. Massively offensive when directed at a woman.
کیر
Kir (کیر) is the everyday vulgar Persian word for penis. Strength 4/5. Building block for half of Persian profanity. Heard constantly in Tehrani street speech, films, and rap, never on broadcast TV.
طاغوتی
Tâghuti (طاغوتی) is the 1979-era slur the Islamic Republic still uses against secular Iranians, monarchists, returning emigrants, and women without hijab. Forty-six years on, it is the regime’s go-to word for delegitimizing anyone insufficiently austere.
محارب
Mohâreb (محارب, ‘warrior against God’) is the Islamic Republic’s other capital charge. Mohsen Shekari was hanged under it on 8 December 2022; Majidreza Rahnavard on 12 December 2022; Toomaj Salehi was sentenced to death under it in April 2024.
مفسد فی الارض
Mofsed-fel-arz (مفسد فی الارض, ‘corruptor on earth’) is the Islamic Republic’s catch-all capital charge. It was used to sentence rapper Toomaj Salehi to death in April 2024 and to hang protester Mohsen Shekari on 8 December 2022.
مرتد
Morted (مرتد) is the Islamic legal category for an apostate, a person who leaves Islam. Iranian courts apply death sentences for apostasy via Article 167 of the constitution, even though the penal code does not formally codify it.
نجس
Najes (نجس) is the Shia jurisprudential category for ritually impure things. In modern Iran it has been weaponized against Bahá’ís, Christians, and Jews to strip them of dignity in markets, restaurants, and workplaces.
کافر
Kâfer (کافر) is the Arabic-origin theological term for an unbeliever, weaponized by the Islamic Republic against atheists, Bahá’ís, ex-Muslims, and political opponents. The state’s vocabulary for people whose rights it will not protect.