What it means
پسین (pesin) means afternoon, the period from midday until evening. It is a pure Persian word descended from Middle Persian pasên, related to the preposition پس (pas, “after”), so it literally points to the time that comes after noon. The register is literary and archaic. In modern spoken Persian, بعدازظهر (ba’d az zohr, “after noon,” partly Arabic) or عصر (asr, from Arabic) are the standard everyday terms. پسین survives mainly in poetry, formal prose, religious texts, and set phrases. It also appears in compound expressions such as نماز پسین (namâz-e pesin), a term for the afternoon prayer in older usage.
How to use it
- پسین هوا خنکتر میشود. (pesin havâ khonaktar mishe.) “In the afternoon the weather gets cooler.”
- در پسین آن روز باران گرفت. (dar pesin-e ân ruz bârân gereft.) “In the afternoon of that day it rained.”
- نماز پسین را خواند. (namâz-e pesin râ khând.) “He performed the afternoon prayer.”
- شعر او از پسین و غروب پر است. (she’r-e u az pesin o qorub por ast.) “His poetry is full of afternoon and sunset.”
Cultural note
The word پسین belongs to a layer of Persian vocabulary that has largely been replaced by Arabic-derived synonyms in everyday speech, yet it persists in classical literature and in some regional dialects. In Dari Persian spoken in Afghanistan, پسین is more commonly used than in Iran. The afternoon prayer, known in everyday Iranian Persian as نماز عصر (namâz-e asr), is sometimes referred to as نماز پسین in older religious and literary sources, preserving the word’s connection to the structure of the Islamic daily prayer schedule.