روی

The face-versus-surface split shows up everywhere in daily Persian. کتاب روی میزه (ketâb ru-ye miz-e) "the book is on the table," but روی بچه‌ام را بوسیدم (ru-ye bachche-am râ busidam) "I kissed my child's face." Persians often prefer صورت (surat, also "face") in formal contexts, while ru stays casual and structural. The compound آبرو (âberu, honor) is one of the heaviest social concepts in Iranian life.