سیگار

What it means

سیگار (sigâr) means cigarette. The word is a European loanword, arriving in Persian via French cigare or the related Spanish cigarro, both of which trace back to tobacco terminology that spread from the Americas through European trade routes. Persian borrowed it in the nineteenth century as the habit and the product arrived through trade and modernization. Today سیگار is the completely standard, neutral word for cigarette across all social registers, age groups, and regions of Iran. The compound verb سیگار کشیدن (sigâr keshidan) means to smoke, literally to pull or draw a cigarette. The adjective سیگاری (sigâri) means a smoker or something related to cigarettes. The phrase قطع سیگار (ghat’-e sigâr) means quitting smoking.

How to use it

• سیگار می‌کشی؟ (sigâr mikeshi?) “Do you smoke?”
• داره سیگار می‌کشه. (dâre sigâr mikeshe.) “He is smoking.”
• دکتر گفته باید سیگار رو قطع کنم. (doktor gafte bâyad sigâr ro ghat’ konam.) “The doctor said I have to quit smoking.”
• اینجا سیگار کشیدن ممنوعه. (injâ sigâr keshidan mamnue.) “Smoking is prohibited here.”

Cultural note

Cigarette smoking has a long and visible social history in Iran. For much of the twentieth century it was associated with modernity, urban life, and masculine sociability in cafes and workplaces. Smoking rates remain significant, and public debate about tobacco is active. The image of someone lighting a سیگار in an old Iranian film or in the poetry of poets such as Ahmad Shamlou carries layers of existential weight that the plain word itself can evoke. Public smoking restrictions have increased in recent decades, shifting where and when سیگار كشیدن is socially acceptable.

References

• Dehkhoda
• Vajehyab