شهر

What it means

شهر (shahr) means “city.” It is the foundational Persian word for any urban settlement, from a small town to a megacity like Tehran. The word is native Persian, going back to Middle Persian šahr.

How to use it

• تهران شهر بزرگی است (tehrân shahr-e bozorgi ast) “Tehran is a big city”
• به شهر می‌روم (be shahr miravam) “I am going to the city”
• شهر شیراز شهر شعر است (shahr-e shirâz shahr-e she’r ast) “Shiraz is the city of poetry”

Common pairings

• شهرستان (shahrestân) “county, district”
• شهردار (shahr-dâr) “mayor”
• شهروند (shahr-vand) “citizen”
• شهرک (shahrak) “small town, settlement”
• پایتخت (pâytakht) “capital city”

Plural and possessive forms

• Plural: شهرها (shahr-hâ) “cities”
• Possessive: شهرم (shahram) “my city”

Register

Neutral. High-frequency vocabulary across all registers.

References

• Dehkhoda
• Vajehyab