گرگ
گرگ (gorg) means “wolf.” Real animal in Iranian wilderness, and the language’s favorite metaphor for a hidden enemy in lamb’s clothing.
Glossary
دست به عصا
دست به عصا (dast be asâ) literally means “hand on the cane,” the way an old person walks. Figuratively, it describes someone who acts overly cautious, double-checking every move.
سگ
سگ (sag) means “dog.” Pure Persian, A1 priority. Religious framing complicates dogs in Iran, but pet dogs are increasingly common in middle-class urban homes.
گربه
گربه (gorbe) is “cat.” Pure Persian word, A1 priority. Iranian cats sit at the soft edge of household tolerance, and the language has built sayings around them.
دانه
دانه (dâne) is both “a grain” (of wheat, rice, sand) and a counter for individual countable items: yek dâne sib means “one apple.”
میلیون
میلیون (milyun) is “million,” borrowed from French and now central to Iranian financial life, where milyun and milyard pad every conversation about rent, salary, and price.
هزار
هزار (hezâr) is “thousand,” a pure Persian word that runs through Iranian poetry as poetic exaggeration and through Iranian wallets because of inflation.
صد
صد (sad) means “hundred.” A1 number, pure Persian, and the building block for sad-darsad, the everyday word Iranians use when they agree with you 100 percent.
دیوان
دیوان (divân) is a poet’s complete collected works, traditionally arranged by rhyme. Divan-e Hafez is the most famous: the book Iranians open for fâl-e Hâfez, divination by verse.
مثنوی
مثنوی (masnavi) is a Persian poetic form in rhyming couplets. Also THE Masnavi: Rumi’s six-volume mystical epic, the central Sufi text alongside Hafez’s Divan.