What it means
رعد (ra’d) is the Persian word for thunder, the loud booming sound produced by the rapid heating of air around a lightning discharge. The word is borrowed directly from Arabic, where رَعْد carries the same meaning. In everyday speech Iranians use it freely alongside familiar weather companions: برق (barq) for lightning and باران (baran) for rain. A close conceptual pair is صاعقه (sa’eqe), which refers specifically to the lightning bolt itself rather than the accompanying sound.
How to use it
- صدای رعد میآد. (seda-ye ra’d mi-yad.) “The sound of thunder is coming.”
- امشب رعد و برق شدیده. (emshab ra’d o barq shadidiye.) “Tonight the thunder and lightning are intense.”
- بچهها از رعد میترسن. (bacheha az ra’d mi-tarsan.) “The kids are scared of thunder.”
- با اولین رعد، همه دویدن تو خونه. (ba avalin ra’d, hame doovidan tu khune.) “At the first thunderclap, everyone ran inside.”
Cultural note
In classical Persian poetry رعد frequently appears as a symbol of divine power or the heavens expressing emotion. Poets such as Rumi and Hafez used thunder as a metaphor for the roar of longing or the voice of God. In Iranian folk tradition, a sudden thunderstorm was sometimes read as an omen requiring prayer or recitation of Quranic verses, a habit tied to the Quranic verse that names رَعْد as one who praises God (Surah 13, Al-Ra’d).