سفال
سفال (sefâl) is the Persian word for terracotta, earthenware, or fired clay. It is one of the oldest craft materials in Iranian history, used for tiles, pottery, and decorative work for thousands of years.
Glossary
آرماتور
آرماتور (ârmâtur) is the Persian technical term for rebar, the steel reinforcement bars embedded in concrete. Borrowed from French “armature”, it is standard vocabulary on any Iranian construction site.
زیرزمین
زیرزمین (zir-zamin) means basement or underground room in Persian. A native compound of زیر (under) and زمین (ground), it describes any space built below street level.
سالن
سالن (sâlon) is the Persian word for living room or large hall, borrowed directly from French “salon”. It covers everything from a family sitting room to a formal event hall.
بام
بام (bam) means rooftop, specifically the flat traditional roof of a Persian house. A native Persian word, it carries strong cultural weight as a social space for sleeping, drying food, and stargazing.
کف
کف (kaf) means floor, sole of the foot, or bottom surface. The word is mixed in origin: the “foam” sense is native Persian, while the “palm” and “floor” senses entered through Arabic kaff.
ستون
ستون (sotun) means column, pillar, or structural support. A core Persian word with Middle Persian roots, it appears in everyday architecture and famous Persian place names alike.
بتون
بتون (beton) means concrete or reinforced concrete. Persian borrowed it directly from French béton, which entered the language during the modernization period of the twentieth century.
آجر
آجر (âjor) means fired clay brick. Persian borrowed the word from Arabic âjurr, which itself traces back through Classical Syriac to Akkadian agurru. Brick construction has been central to Iranian building for thousands of years.
سقف
سقف (saghf) means ceiling or the interior roof surface of a room. Persian borrowed it from Arabic saqf. It covers both the ceiling you see above you and a roof in technical contexts.