What it means
یک چارک (yek-charak) is one quarter, the fraction 1/4. The most alive use is in telling time. یک چارک به یک (yek-charak be yek) is a quarter to one, یک چارک از یک گذشته (yek-charak az yek gozashteh) is a quarter past one. Younger speakers in Tehran often reach for ربع (rob’) instead, the Arabic-origin word for quarter, but charak is the older Persian form and you still hear it across Iran, especially outside the capital and in older speech.
The fractional system, briefly
Persian has three core fractions you will meet at the beginner stage:
- نیم (nim), half, the everyday productive one
- یک چارک (yek-charak), one quarter
- یک سوم (yek-sevvom), one third
Of these, nim is the only A1 word; the other two appear mostly in time, in measurement, and in formal or academic contexts. Higher fractions use the formula یک plus the ordinal: یک پنجم (yek-panjom, one fifth), یک ششم (yek-sheshom, one sixth), and so on. Charak is the exception, it survives as its own word for quarter rather than getting rebuilt as یک چهارم (yek-chaharom), though both forms exist and both are correct.
How to use it
saat yek-charak be hasht-e.
It is a quarter to eight.
ساعت یک چارک به هشت است.
yek-charak kilo zafaran kharidam.
I bought a quarter kilo of saffron.
یک چارک کیلو زعفران خریدم.
faqat yek-charak-e ketab-o khundam.
I only read a quarter of the book.
فقط یک چارک کتاب رو خوندم.
Where it comes from
چارک (charak) is a native Persian word, an old fractional term that pre-dates the modern یک چهارم formula. It also names a traditional unit of weight in old Iranian markets, roughly 750 grams or a quarter of a man (the old Persian weight unit). The weight sense is mostly gone from modern shops but lingers in bazaar talk about saffron, gold, and other precious goods sold by the charak. The Arabic-origin ربع (rob’) replaced charak in many urban contexts during the twentieth century, but charak is still the Persian word and still good Persian.
In our voice
If you spend time with older Iranians or anyone outside Tehran, you will hear yek-charak in time-telling and at the spice shop. It is a small word with quiet history, and using it instead of rob’ tilts your Persian toward the native register without sounding archaic.
References
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