What it means
پرواز (parvâz) means flight or flying. In everyday use it refers to an airline flight (پرواز تهران به استانبول, parvâz-e Tehrân be Estânbol, the Tehran to Istanbul flight) and to the act of flying in a broader sense, from birds to aircraft. The word is built from two Persian elements: پر (par), meaning wing or feather, and the root وَز (vaz), related to the verb وزیدن (vazidan), meaning to blow or move through air. This makes پرواز an internally transparent compound: a native speaker hears the wings in the word. It is used in formal announcements at airports (پرواز شماره پانصد و ده, parvâz-e shomâre-ye pânsad o dah, flight number 510) and in everyday speech alike.
How to use it
- پرواز ما کِی پرواز میکنه؟ (parvâz-e mâ key parvâz mikone?) “When does our flight take off?”
- پروازم کنسل شد. (parvâzam kansal shod.) “My flight was cancelled.”
- شماره پرواز چیه؟ (shomâre-ye parvâz chiye?) “What is the flight number?”
- دوست دارم پرواز یاد بگیرم. (dust dâram parvâz yâd begiram.) “I would love to learn to fly.”
Cultural note
Iran’s domestic aviation network connects Tehran with dozens of cities, and internal flights are a common alternative to long bus or train journeys. Iran Air, the national carrier founded in 1961, uses the Homa bird (a mythological Persian bird of good fortune) as its symbol, linking commercial flight to Persian literary imagery of soaring. The word پرواز itself appears in Persian poetry as a symbol of spiritual ascent and freedom, most famously in Rumi’s images of the soul taking flight. The dual life of this word, as airport signage and as lyric metaphor, reflects how Persian vocabulary often bridges the practical and the poetic.