What it means
قفل (qofl) means “lock” or “padlock,” the device that keeps a door, gate, drawer, or suitcase shut and secure. It is an Arabic loanword that is fully at home in everyday Persian, and it covers both a fixed lock built into a door and a separate padlock you hang and click closed. The verb you pair with it is قفل کردن (qofl kardan), “to lock,” and its natural opposite is باز کردن (bâz kardan), “to open” or “to unlock.” A related word is کلید (kelid), the key that opens the قفل.
How to use it
- در رو قفل کن (dar ro qofl kon) “lock the door”
- قفل در خرابه (qofl-e dar kharâbe) “the door lock is broken”
- یادم رفت در رو قفل کنم (yâdam raft dar ro qofl konam) “I forgot to lock the door”
- قفل دوچرخه رو از کجا خریدی؟ (qofl-e docharkhe ro az kojâ kharidi?) “where did you buy the bike lock?”
Cultural note
قفل shows up all over Persian beyond the literal device. A common figurative phrase is قفل کردن (qofl kardan) used for a person whose mind goes blank, the way English says someone “froze.” In classical poetry you also meet expressions like قفل بر زبان زدن (qofl bar zabân zadan), literally “to put a lock on the tongue,” meaning to silence someone or to keep a secret. So the same word that secures your front door also describes a guarded mouth and a stuck mind.