What it means
سهشنبه (seh-shanbeh) is Tuesday. The name means “the third day after Saturday”: سه (seh) is the Persian word for three, and شنبه comes from the Aramaic word for the Sabbath. Written with a half-space between سه and شنبه, the compound is treated as a single word in standard Persian orthography. It is a fully ordinary working and school day in Iran, sitting in the middle of the week.
How to use it
- سهشنبه امتحان دارم. (Seh-shanbeh emtehân dâram.) “I have an exam on Tuesday.”
- سهشنبهها کلاس زبانم هست. (Seh-shanbehâ kelâs-e zabânam hast.) “I have my language class on Tuesdays.”
- سهشنبه دیروز خونه نبودم. (Seh-shanbeh diruz khune nabudam.) “Yesterday, Tuesday, I wasn’t home.”
- میتونیم سهشنبه ببینیم هم رو؟ (Mitonim seh-shanbeh bebinim ham ro?) “Can we see each other on Tuesday?”
Cultural note
سهشنبه has a culturally charged version in the compound چهارشنبهسوری (Chahârshanbe-Suri), the fire-jumping festival held on the last Tuesday night before Nowruz, because the festival takes place on the eve of Wednesday (that is, Tuesday night). Iranians light bonfires in the streets and leap over them chanting زردی من از تو، سرخی تو از من (“my pallor to you, your redness to me”), asking the fire to absorb illness and give back vitality. So while سهشنبه itself is an unremarkable weekday, the last سهشنبه of the Persian year carries one of the year’s most vivid rituals.