سوپ

What it means

سوپ (sup) means soup. The word entered Persian as a loanword from European languages, most directly from French soupe or a related form, as part of the broader wave of culinary and domestic vocabulary that Persian absorbed during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Before this borrowing, Persian had no single word that mapped exactly onto the European concept of soup as a distinct course; related items like آش (âsh) existed but described a thicker, stew-like dish with a distinct Iranian character. Today سوپ and آش coexist as separate items: سوپ is understood as a thinner, often Western-style soup, while آش remains the traditional Persian category of thick, grain-based broth dishes.

How to use it

• سوپ جوجه (sup-e juje) “chicken soup”
• سوپ پختی؟ (sup pokhti?) “Did you cook soup?”
• یه کاسه سوپ میخوام (ye kâse sup mikhâm) “I want a bowl of soup.”
• سوپ جو برای سرماخوردگی خوبه (sup-e jo barâ-ye sarmâkhorgi khube) “Barley soup is good for a cold.”

Cultural note

While آش has deep roots in Persian food culture and ritual, سوپ entered Iranian home cooking as a lighter first course, especially in middle-class urban households influenced by European dining habits during the twentieth century. سوپ جوجه (chicken soup) and سوپ گوجه (tomato soup) became staples. The distinction between سوپ and آش is meaningful to Iranians: ordering سوپ at a restaurant signals a lighter, often Western-inflected choice, while asking for آش connects to a distinctly Iranian culinary tradition.

References

• Dehkhoda
• Vajehyab