What it means
شخم (shokhm) refers to the plowing or tilling of soil, the process of turning and breaking up the ground before seeds are sown. The word is native Persian, rooted in the agricultural vocabulary of Old Iranian farming communities. It is almost always used with the verb زدن (zadan, to strike or apply): شخم زدن (shokhm zadan) means to plow. A related word is شیار (shiyâr), meaning furrow, the trench left behind after plowing.
How to use it
- قبل از کاشت باید زمین رو شخم زد. (Qabl az kâsht bâyad zamin ro shokhm zad.) “Before planting, the land has to be plowed.”
- تراکتور داره زمین رو شخم میزنه. (Tarâktor dâre zamin ro shokhm mizane.) “The tractor is plowing the land.”
- شخم عمیق برای گندم بهتره. (Shokhm-e amiq barâye gandom behtare.) “Deep plowing is better for wheat.”
- بعد از شخم، کود میریزیم. (Ba’d az shokhm, kud mirizim.) “After plowing, we spread fertilizer.”
Cultural note
Plowing is one of the oldest agricultural acts on the Iranian plateau, and شخم زدن has been central to Persian farming life for millennia. Traditionally done with oxen pulling a wooden plow, the image of the farmer behind his animals working the earth appears repeatedly in classical Persian poetry as a symbol of honest labor and connection to the land. Today, tractors have replaced oxen on most Iranian farms, but the word شخم remains unchanged and universal.