What it means
پلاستیک (plâstik) is the Persian word for plastic, both the material and plastic objects in general. It is a modern loanword taken from French plastique, which traces back through Latin plasticus to Greek πλαστικός (plastikos), meaning capable of being molded. Persian borrowed it directly from French in the twentieth century, following the same path as many other technical terms that entered Persian via French rather than English during that period. A common related phrase is کیسهی پلاستیکی (kisseh-ye plâstiki), a plastic bag, which is one of the most frequent uses of the word in daily conversation.
How to use it
- این از پلاستیکه. (in az plâstikeh.) “This is made of plastic.”
- کیسه پلاستیکی نداری؟ (kisseh-ye plâstiki nadâri?) “Do you have a plastic bag?”
- پلاستیک رو بنداز دور. (plâstik ro bendâz dur.) “Throw the plastic away.”
- ظرف پلاستیکی سالمه؟ (zarf-e plâstiki sâlemeh?) “Is the plastic container okay?”
Cultural note
Plastic arrived in Iranian markets in significant quantities during the 1950s and 1960s, and the word plâstik came with it. Iran is one of the world’s larger producers of petrochemical products, and domestic plastic manufacturing expanded rapidly from the 1970s onward. Despite a growing environmental awareness movement in Iran, single-use plastic bags remain extremely common in bazaars and supermarkets, and reducing their use has been a recurring topic in Iranian environmental policy discussions.