سرخ

In football, سرخ‌ها (sorkh-hâ, "the Reds") is the nickname of Persepolis FC (پرسپولیس), Tehran's red-shirted club and the larger half of the most-watched derby in Asia. Their rival آبی‌ها (the Blues) is Esteghlal. Saying "من سرخم" (I'm red) declares football allegiance, not political affiliation. In poetry سرخ is the color of the rose, the wound, the wine cup, and the dawn. Hafez and Saadi reach for سرخ when قرمز would feel jarring. The color also carries political weight from the 20th century: the left used سرخ for socialist red, and the term سرخ in older revolutionary texts often points that way. Modern usage has mostly defused that, and in 2026 سرخ in conversation almost always means either literary red or Persepolis.