ضایع

/ zâye' /

adjective · embarrassing, off-putting

Meaning

معنی

The slang sense exploded in Tehran youth speech in the 2000s and crossed into national usage through TV and Telegram. The root is Arabic ضائع "lost, wasted," but the Persian shift toward "socially embarrassing" is local. Often paired with "بازی" (-bâzi, "-ish behavior") to describe a pattern of cringe acts.

How it's used

zâye' is universal across Iran but carries a distinct 2010s gen-Z weight in Tehran. In Mashhad and Tabriz dialects, the equivalent is رَزِل (razel).

In a sentence

مثال

خیلی ضایع شد

kheyli zâye' shod

That was so embarrassing

The company it keeps

هم‌نشین‌ها

You rarely meet a word alone — here it is, at work beside others.

ضایع شدن

zâye' shodan

to be embarrassed, to lose face

ضایع کردن

zâye' kardan

to embarrass someone

ضایع‌بازی

zâye'-bâzi

cringe behavior

In its constellation

در پیوند

No word stands alone. Follow a thread to the words it lives beside — hover to read one, click to open it.

See it in the whole constellation →

ضایعzâye'

خجالتkhejâlat خزkhaz خجالتیkhejâlati آب شدنâb shodan ذوق‌زدهzogh-zade ضعیفza'if

ضایعzâye'

keeps company with ۶ words