تن

What it means

تن (tan) means body, one’s physical person, or by extension oneself. It is a pure Persian word of great antiquity. In everyday colloquial speech, بدن (badan, borrowed from Arabic) is more common for body, but تن is very much alive in formal speech, literature, and fixed compound expressions. تن دادن به (tan dâdan be) means to submit to, to consent to, or to go along with something reluctantly. تن به کار دادن (tan be kâr dâdan) means to put oneself to work, to apply oneself. تن‌پوش (tan-push) means a garment or covering for the body. In poetry, تن is often set against جان (jân, soul or spirit) to express the duality of body and soul.

How to use it

• تن به این کار نمیدم. (tan be in kâr nemidam.) “I will not submit to this / I won’t go along with it.”
• باید تن به واقعیت بدیم. (bâyad tan be vâghe’iyat bedim.) “We have to accept reality.”
• تن‌پوش مناسب بپوش. (tan-push-e monâseb bepush.) “Wear appropriate clothing.”
• تن و جان هر دو خسته‌ان. (tan o jân har do khaste-an.) “Both body and soul are tired.”

Cultural note

The تن/جان pairing (body and soul) runs through Persian classical poetry as one of its organizing metaphors. Rumi’s Masnavi and Sa’di’s Golestan both use it to explore the tension between worldly existence and spiritual aspiration. Because literary Persian is taught in Iranian schools as a living tradition rather than a historical relic, phrases built on تن feel natural to educated Iranians even when they are not used in casual speech. The expression تن به کار دادن in particular has a slightly old-fashioned warmth that parents and grandparents still use when encouraging someone to stop hesitating and start working.

References

• Dehkhoda
• Vajehyab