گلکلم
گلکلم (gol-e kalam) means cauliflower in Persian. The name is a compound: گل means flower and کلم is the borrowed word for cabbage, so the literal sense is flower-cabbage.
Glossary
بروکلی
بروکلی (brokoli) is the Persian word for broccoli, borrowed from Italian broccoli. This dark green vegetable is common in modern Iranian cooking and supermarkets.
نخود فرنگی
نخود فرنگی (nokhod farangi) means green peas in Persian. It is a compound: نخود is a native Persian word for chickpea, while فرنگی (European) derives from the Frankish ethnonym via Old French, marking the pea as a foreign introduction.
لوبیا سبز
لوبیا سبز (lubia sabz) means green beans or string beans in Persian. It is a compound: لوبیا was borrowed from Ancient Greek λόβια (lóbia), which traces back to Akkadian and Sumerian, while سبز (green) is pure Persian.
لبو
لبو (labu) means beetroot or cooked beet in Persian. The word is traced through Aramaic and Assyrian-Babylonian roots. In Iran it is also a beloved street food sold hot from carts in autumn and winter.
شلغم
شلغم (shalgham) means turnip in Persian. The word is documented in Middle Persian and may trace further back to Ancient Greek, though the deeper origin is uncertain. Arabic and Turkish both borrowed this word from Persian.
تربچه
تربچه (torobche) means radish in Persian. The stem ترب is generally traced to Turkic turp, though the direction of borrowing is debated by scholars. The diminutive suffix ـچه is Persian, making this a mixed-origin compound for a crunchy, peppery root vegetable.
کنجد
کنجد (konjed) is the Persian word for sesame, a native term inherited from Middle Persian kunjid, in contrast to the Arabic equivalent simsim used elsewhere.
شاه بلوط
شاه بلوط (shahbalut) means chestnut. It is a Persian-Aramaic compound: شاه (shah, king) is native Persian, while بلوط (balut, oak or acorn) entered both Arabic and Persian from Aramaic, together forming the king of the oak family.
فندق
فندق (fenduq) means hazelnut in Persian. The word has a long journey: it traces back to the Ancient Greek Ποντικόν κάρυον (Pontic nut), passed through Middle Persian, entered Arabic, and then came into New Persian.