سرخ

سرخ is the literary red. Iranians use it for roses, for blood, and for the football club that owns half of Tehran’s heart.

What it actually means

سرخ (sorkh) means “red.” It is the older, native Persian word for red, descended directly from Middle Persian sokhr. In modern Persian it occupies a different register from قرمز (qermez): سرخ is poetic, formal, and literary; قرمز is the everyday street word. Both can describe the same red object, but Iranians choose between them based on tone. A red apple in a market is سیب قرمز; a red apple in a poem is سیب سرخ. Both are correct.

How to use it

سرخ is a regular adjective placed after the noun:

• گل سرخ (gol-e sorkh) “red flower / rose” – the classical phrase for a rose
• صورت سرخ (surat-e sorkh) “a red / flushed face”
• گوشت سرخ‌شده (gusht-e sorkh-shode) “browned meat” (cooking term, sorkh kardan = to fry/brown)

The comparative is سرخ‌تر (sorkh-tar). The verb سرخ کردن (sorkh kardan) means “to fry, to brown” and is universal in Iranian cooking, even in colloquial speech where you would otherwise pick قرمز for the color itself.

How to say it

Formal (نوشتاری): سرخ · sorkh · “red (literary)”

Colloquial (محاوره): سرخ in fixed phrases, otherwise قرمز · sorkh / qermez

In a sentence

• گل‌های سرخ روی میز بود. · gol-hâ-ye sorkh ru-ye miz bud. · There were red roses on the table.
• پیاز را سرخ کن. · piyâz râ sorkh kon. · Brown the onion (cooking).
• طرفدارای سرخ‌ها امشب جشن می‌گیرن. · tarafdâr-â-ye sorkh-hâ emshab jashn migiran. · The Reds’ fans are celebrating tonight.

Cultural context

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.

Related

Compare with قرمز (the everyday red) and آبی (blue, the rival color in Tehran football). For the system see Persian colors guide.