What it means
تنگه (tange) refers to a narrow passage of water connecting two larger bodies of water, what English calls a strait. The word is built directly on the Persian adjective تنگ (tang), meaning narrow or tight, making it a native Persian formation with no Arabic or Turkic borrowing involved. In everyday speech, Iranians also use تنگه more loosely for any narrow gap or bottleneck, whether geographic or figurative. A close related noun is دره (dare), meaning valley or gorge, though a دره is typically on land while a تنگه is defined by water on both sides.
How to use it
- کشتی از تنگه رد شد. (Keshti az tange rad shod.) “The ship passed through the strait.”
- تنگه هرمز یکی از مهمترین آبراهههای دنیاست. (Tange-ye Hormoz yeki az mohemtarin âbrâhehâ-ye donyâst.) “The Strait of Hormuz is one of the most important waterways in the world.”
- این جاده از یک تنگه کوهستانی رد میشه. (In jâde az yek tange-ye kuhestâni rad mishe.) “This road passes through a mountain gorge.”
- ترافیک تو این تنگه خیلی سنگینه. (Târâfik tu in tange kheyli sangine.) “Traffic in this narrow pass is really heavy.”
Cultural note
تنگه هرمز, the Strait of Hormuz, sits at the mouth of the Persian Gulf and has been a strategically vital waterway for thousands of years, connecting Gulf oil exporters to the open ocean. Iranians are deeply aware of this geography, and the strait appears frequently in political and news discourse. The word تنگه also appears in Persian literary tradition to describe mountain passes, since Iran’s landscape is defined by mountain ranges that force travelers through narrow corridors.