View source for Persian language

{{Short description|Western Iranian language}}
{{Redirect|Farsi|other uses|Farsi (disambiguation)}}
{{pp-vandalism|small=yes}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Persian
| altname          = 
| nativename       = {{lang|fa|فارسی}}<br />{{Transliteration|fa|fārsī}}
| pronunciation    = {{IPA|fa|fɒːɾˈsiː||Farsi.ogg}}
| states           = {{hlist|style=line-height:1.3em;
 | [[Iran]]<ref name="Samadi">{{cite book |last=Samadi |first=Habibeh |title=Assessing Grammar: The Languages of Lars |year=2012 |publisher=Multilingual Matters |isbn=978-1-84769-637-3 |author2=Nick Perkins |editor=Martin Ball |editor2=David Crystal |editor3=Paul Fletcher |page=169}}</ref>
 | [[Afghanistan]]<ref name="Samadi"/> (as [[Dari]])
 | [[Tajikistan]]<ref name="Samadi"/> (as [[Tajik language|Tajik]])
 | [[Uzbekistan]] (as Tajik)<ref name="auto">{{cite journal |first=Richard |last=Foltz |title=The Tajiks of Uzbekistan |journal=Central Asian Survey |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=213–216 |year=1996 |doi=10.1080/02634939608400946|issn = 0263-4937 }}</ref>
 | [[Iraq]]<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica |title=IRAQ |url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/iraq |access-date=7 November 2014 |url-status=live |archive-date=17 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141117111515/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/iraq}}</ref>
 | [[Turkmenistan]]<ref>{{cite book |title=Islamic Peoples of the Soviet Union |last=Akiner |first=Shirin |publisher=Routledge |year=1986 |isbn=0-7103-0188-X |location=London |pages=362}}</ref>
| [[Azerbaijan]] (as [[Tat language (Caucasus)|Tat]])<ref name="Windfuhr417418">Windfuhr, Gernot: ''The Iranian Languages'', Routledge 2009, p. 417–418.</ref>
| Russia ([[Dagestan]]; as Tat)<ref name="Windfuhr417418" />
| [[Kuwait]]<ref name="unesco">{{cite web|url=https://en.wal.unesco.org/languages/kuwaiti-persian|title=Kuwaiti Persian|work=[[UNESCO]]|access-date=27 October 2023|archive-date=29 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231029173237/https://en.wal.unesco.org/languages/kuwaiti-persian|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| [[Bahrain]]<ref name="worldatlas">{{cite web|url=https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-languages-are-spoken-in-bahrain.html|title=What Languages Are Spoken in Bahrain?|work=WorldAtlas|access-date=24 September 2025}}</ref>}}
| speakers         = [[First language|L1]]: {{sigfig|91.154770|2}} million<!--Farsi+Dari+Tajik-->
| date             = 2023–2024
| ref              = <ref name="e28|fas">{{e28|fas}}</ref>
| speakers2        = [[second language|L2]]: {{sigfig|35.485140|2}} million<!--Farsi+Dari+Tajik--> (2020–2023)<ref name="e28|fas">{{e28|fas}}</ref><br />Total: {{sigfig|126.639910|3}} million (2020–2024)<!--Farsi+Dari+Tajik--><ref name="e28|fas">{{e28|fas}}</ref>
| speakers_label   = Speakers
| familycolor      = Indo-European
| fam2             = [[Indo-Iranian languages|Indo-Iranian]]
| fam3             = [[Iranian languages|Iranian]]
| fam4             = [[Western Iranian languages|Western]]
| fam5             = [[Southwestern Iranian languages|Southwestern]]
| ancestor         = [[Old Persian]]
| ancestor2        = [[Middle Persian]]
| ancestor3        = [[New Persian#Early New Persian|Early New Persian]]
| dia1             = [[Iranian Persian|Iranian (Western)]]
| dia2             = [[Dari|Dari (Eastern)]]
| dia3             = [[Tajik language|Tajik]]
| dia4             = [[Bukharian (Judeo-Persian dialect)|Bukhori]]
| dia5             = [[Pahlavani language|Pahlavani]]
| dia6             = [[Hazaragi dialect|Hazaragi]]
| dia7             = [[Aimaq dialect|Aimaq]]
| dia8             = [[Judeo-Persian]]
| dia9             = [[Dehwari language|Dehwari]]
| dia10            = [[Judeo-Tat]]<ref name="Windfuhr418">Windfuhr, Gernot: ''The Iranian Languages'', Routledge 2009, p. 418.</ref>
| dia11            = [[Tat language (Caucasus)|Caucasian Tat]]<ref name="Windfuhr418"/>
| dia12            = [[Armeno-Tats|Armeno-Tat]]<ref name="Windfuhr418"/>
| dia13            = [[Madaklashti dialect|Madaklashti]]
| stand1           = [[Iranian Persian]]
| stand2           = [[Dari|Afghan Persian]]
| stand3           = [[Tajik language|Tajik Persian]]
| script           = {{plainlist}}
* [[Persian alphabet]] in [[Iran]] and [[Afghanistan]]
* [[Cyrillic script|Cyrillic]] ([[Tajik alphabet]]) in [[Tajikistan]]
* [[Old Persian cuneiform]] (525 BC – 330 BC)
* [[Pahlavi scripts]] (2nd century BC to 7th century AD)
* [[Persian Braille]]
{{endplainlist}}
| nation           = {{plainlist}}
* [[Iran]]<ref name="Iran Constitution">[[Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran]]: Chapter II, Article 15: "The official language and script of Iran, the [[lingua franca]] of its people, is Persian. Official documents, correspondence, and texts, as well as text-books, must be in this language and script. However, the use of regional and tribal languages in the press and mass media, as well as for teaching of their literature in schools, is allowed in addition to Persian."</ref>
* [[Afghanistan]] (as [[Dari]])
* [[Tajikistan]] (as [[Tajik language|Tajik]])
{{endplainlist}}
Russia
* [[Dagestan]] (as [[Tat language (Caucasus)|Tat]])<ref>[[Constitution of the Republic of Dagestan]]: Chapter I, Article 11: "The state languages of the Republic of Dagestan are Russian and the languages of the peoples of Dagestan."</ref>
| agency           = {{plainlist}}
* [[Academy of Persian Language and Literature]] (Iran)
* [[Academy of Sciences of Afghanistan]] (Afghanistan)
* [[Rudaki Institute of Language and Literature]] (Tajikistan)
{{endplainlist}}
| iso1             = fa
| iso2b            = per
| iso2t            = fas
| iso3             = fas
| lc1              = pes
| ld1              = [[Iranian Persian]]
| lc2              = prs
| ld2              = [[Dari]]
| lc3              = tgk
| ld3              = [[Tajik language]]<!--This and the following codes aren't part of the macrolanguage per SIL-->
| lc4              = aiq
| ld4              = [[Aimaq dialect]]
| lc5              = bhh
| ld5              = [[Bukhori dialect]]
| lc7              = haz
| ld7              = [[Hazaragi dialect]]
| lc8              = jpr
| ld8              = [[Judeo-Persian]]
| lc9              = phv
| ld9              = [[Pahlavani language|Pahlavani]]
| lc10             = deh
| ld10             = [[Dehwari language|Dehwari]]
| lc11             = jdt
| ld11             = [[Judeo-Tat]]
| lc12             = ttt
| ld12             = [[Tat language (Caucasus)|Caucasian Tat]]
| lingua           = {{longitem|58-AAC (Wider Persian)<br> > 58-AAC-c (Central Persian)}}
| image            = Farsi.svg
| imagescale       = 0.45
| imagecaption     = ''Fārsi'' written in [[Persian calligraphy]] ([[Nastaʿlīq]])
| map              = Persian Language Location Map.svg{{!}}border
| mapcaption       = Areas with significant numbers of people whose first language is Persian (including dialects)
| map2             = Map of Persian speakers.svg{{!}}border
| mapcaption2      = Persian linguasphere<br>Legend
{{legend|#002255|Official language}}
{{legend|#0044AA|More than 1,000,000 speakers}}
{{legend|#0066FF|Between 500,000 and 1,000,000 speakers}}
{{legend|#5599FF|Between 100,000 and 500,000 speakers}}
{{legend|#AACCFF|Between 25,000 and 100,000 speakers}}
{{legend|#b9b9b9|Fewer than 25,000 speakers to none}}
| notice           = IPA
| glotto           = fars1254
| glottorefname    = Farsic-Caucasian Tat
}}
{{Contains special characters|Perso-Arabic}}

'''Persian''',{{efn|{{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|ɜr|ʒ|ən|,_|-|ʃ|ən}} {{respell|PUR|zhən|,_|-|shən}}}} also known by its [[endonym and exonym|endonym]] '''Farsi''',{{efn|{{lang|fa|فارسی}}, Fārsī {{IPA|fa|fɒːɾˈsiː||Farsi.ogg}}; [[Early New Persian]]: {{lang|fa|پارسی}}, Pārsī}} is a [[Western Iranian languages|Western Iranian language]] belonging to the [[Iranian languages|Iranian branch]] of the [[Indo-Iranian languages|Indo-Iranian subdivision]] of the [[Indo-European languages]]. Persian is a [[pluricentric language]] predominantly spoken and used officially within [[Iran]], [[Afghanistan]], and [[Tajikistan]] in three [[mutual intelligibility|mutually intelligible]] [[standard language|standard varieties]], respectively [[Iranian Persian]] (officially known as ''Persian''),<ref>{{cite web |title=Persian, Iranian |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/pes |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220105062922/https://www.ethnologue.com/language/pes |archive-date=5 January 2022 |access-date=25 February 2021 |work=Ethnologue}}</ref><ref name="ISO">{{cite web |url=https://iso639-3.sil.org/code/fas |title=639 Identifier Documentation: fas |publisher=Sil.org |access-date=25 February 2021 |archive-date=16 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220216202338/https://iso639-3.sil.org/code/fas |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran |url=https://en.parliran.ir/eng/en/Constitution |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161027004409/https://en.parliran.ir/eng/en/Constitution |archive-date=27 October 2016 |access-date=18 January 2022 |website=Islamic Parliament of Iran}}</ref> [[Dari|Dari Persian]] (officially known as ''Dari'' since 1964),<ref name="Olesen">{{cite book |first=Asta |last=Olesen |title=Islam and Politics in Afghanistan |volume=3 |publisher=Psychology Press |year=1995 |page=205 |quote=There began a general promotion of the Pashto language at the expense of Farsi – previously dominant in the educational and administrative system (...) – and the term 'Dari' for the Afghan version of Farsi came into common use, being officially adopted in 1958.}}</ref> and [[Tajik language|Tajiki Persian]] (officially known as ''Tajik'' since 1999).<ref name=siddikzoda2002>Siddikzoda, S. "Tajik Language: Farsi or not Farsi?" in ''Media Insight Central Asia #27'', August 2002.</ref><ref name="Baker">{{cite book |last=Baker |first=Mona |title=Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ewBfSBo8rRsC |year=2001 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-25517-2 |page=518 |quote=All this affected translation activities in Persian, seriously undermining the international character of the language. The problem was compounded in modern times by several factors, among them the realignment of Central Asian Persian, renamed Tajiki by the Soviet Union, with Uzbek and Russian languages, as well as the emergence of a language reform movement in Iran which paid no attention to the consequences of its pronouncements and actions for the language as a whole. |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-date=2 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221002103438/https://books.google.com/books?id=ewBfSBo8rRsC |url-status=live}}</ref> It is also spoken natively in the Tajik variety by a significant population within [[Uzbekistan]],<ref name="auto"/><ref>{{cite book |first=Lena |last=Jonson |year=2006 |title=Tajikistan in the new Central Asia |page=108}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Cordell |first=Karl |url=https://archive.org/details/ethnicitydemocra0000unse_y7f7 |title=Ethnicity and Democratisation in the New Europe |publisher=Routledge |year=1998 |isbn=0415173124 |page=201 |quote=Consequently the number of citizens who regard themselves as Tajiks is difficult to determine. Tajiks within and outside of the republic, Samarkand State University (SamGU) academics and international commentators suggest that there may be between six and seven million Tajiks in Uzbekistan, constituting 30 per cent of the republic's twenty-two million population, rather than the official figure of 4.7 per cent (Foltz 1996:213; Carlisle 1995:88).}}</ref> as well as within other regions with a [[Persianate society|Persianate]] history in the cultural sphere of [[Greater Iran]]. It is written officially within Iran and Afghanistan in the [[Persian alphabet]], a derivative of the [[Arabic script]], and within Tajikistan in the [[Tajik alphabet]], a derivative of the [[Cyrillic script]].

Modern Persian is a continuation of [[Middle Persian]], an official language of the [[Sasanian Empire]] (224–651 CE), itself a continuation of [[Old Persian]], which was used in the [[Achaemenid Empire]] (550–330 BCE).<ref name="Lazard"/><ref>{{cite book |first1=Ulrich |last1=Ammon |first2=Norbert |last2=Dittmar |first3=Klaus J. |last3=Mattheier |first4=Peter |last4=Trudgill |title=Sociolinguistics: An International Handbook of the Science of Language and Society |volume=3 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |year=2006 |edition=2nd |page=1912 |quote=The Pahlavi language (also known as Middle Persian) was the official language of Iran during the Sassanid dynasty (from 3rd to 7th century A. D.). Pahlavi is the direct continuation of old Persian, and was used as the written official language of the country. However, after the Moslem conquest and the collapse of the Sassanids, Arabic became the dominant language of the country and Pahlavi lost its importance, and was gradually replaced by Dari, a variety of Middle Persian, with considerable loan elements from Arabic and Parthian (Moshref 2001).}}</ref> It originated in the region of [[Fars province|Fars]] ([[Persis|Persia]]) in southwestern Iran.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Skjærvø |first=Prods Oktor |year=2006 |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica |url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/iran-vi-iranian-languages-and-scripts |volume=XIII |pages=344–377 |title=Iran, vi. Iranian languages and scripts |quote=(...) Persian, the language originally spoken in the province of Fārs, which is descended from Old Persian, the language of the Achaemenid empire (6th–4th centuries B.C.E.), and Middle Persian, the language of the Sasanian empire (3rd–7th centuries C.E.). |access-date=10 July 2019 |archive-date=23 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200423163002/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/iran-vi-iranian-languages-and-scripts |url-status=live}}</ref> Its grammar is similar to that of many European languages.<ref name="Richard Davis 2006. pp. 602-603">{{cite encyclopedia |first=Richard |last=Davis |title=Persian |editor1-first=Josef W. |editor1-last=Meri |editor2-first=Jere L. |editor2-last=Bacharach |encyclopedia=Medieval Islamic Civilization |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2006 |pages=602–603 |quote=Similarly, the core vocabulary of Persian continued to be derived from Pahlavi, but Arabic lexical items predominated for more abstract or abstruse subjects and often replaced their Persian equivalents in polite discourse. (...) The grammar of New Persian is similar to that of many contemporary European languages.}}</ref>

Throughout history, Persian was considered prestigious by various empires centered in [[West Asia]], [[Central Asia]], and [[South Asia]].<ref name="Persian literature">{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/art/Persian-literature |title=Persian literature |first=J.T.P. |last=de Bruijn |date=14 December 2015 |access-date=10 July 2019 |archive-date=10 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190610213004/https://www.britannica.com/art/Persian-literature |url-status=live}}</ref> Old Persian is attested in [[Old Persian cuneiform]] on inscriptions from between the 6th and 4th century BC. Middle Persian is attested in [[Aramaic alphabet|Aramaic]]-derived scripts ([[Pahlavi scripts|Pahlavi]] and [[Manichaean script|Manichaean]]) on [[Inscriptional Pahlavi|inscriptions]] and in [[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrian]] and [[Manichaeism|Manichaean]] scriptures from between the third to the tenth centuries (see [[Middle Persian literature]]). New Persian literature was first recorded in the ninth century, after the [[Muslim conquest of Persia]], since then adopting the Perso-Arabic script.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica |url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/iran-vi2-documentation |title=Iran vi. Iranian languages and scripts (2) Documentation |first=Prods Oktor |last=Skjærvø |pages=348–366 |volume=XIII |access-date=30 December 2012 |archive-date=17 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161117083610/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/iran-vi2-documentation |url-status=live}}</ref>

Persian was the first language to break through the monopoly of [[Arabic]] on writing in the [[Muslim world]], with [[Persian literature|Persian poetry]] becoming a tradition in many eastern courts.<ref name="Persian literature"/> It was used officially as a language of bureaucracy even by non-native speakers, such as the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]] in [[Anatolia]],<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0dEYDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT146 |title=A History of the Muslim World since 1260: The Making of a Global Community |isbn=9781315511078 |last1=Egger |first1=Vernon O. |date=16 September 2016 |publisher=Routledge |access-date=12 June 2020 |archive-date=2 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221002103438/https://books.google.com/books?id=0dEYDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT146 |url-status=live}}</ref> the [[Mughal Empire|Mughals]] in South Asia, and the [[Pashtuns]] in Afghanistan. It influenced languages spoken in neighboring regions and beyond, including other Iranian languages, the [[Turkic languages|Turkic]], [[Armenian language|Armenian]], [[Georgian language|Georgian]], & [[Indo-Aryan languages]]. It also exerted some influence on Arabic,<ref name=Holes2001>{{cite book |last=Holes |first=Clive |title=Dialect, Culture, and Society in Eastern Arabia: Glossary |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bJLjAKH7-rIC&pg=PR30 |year=2001 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=90-04-10763-0 |page=XXX |access-date=4 September 2013 |archive-date=17 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161117170320/https://books.google.com/books?id=bJLjAKH7-rIC&pg=PR30 |url-status=live}}</ref> while borrowing a lot of vocabulary from it in the Middle Ages.<ref name="Lazard">{{harvnb|Lazard|1975}}: "The language known as New Persian, which usually is called at this period (early Islamic times) by the name of Dari or Farsi-Dari, can be classified linguistically as a continuation of Middle Persian, the official religious and literary language of Sassanian Iran, itself a continuation of Old Persian, the language of the Achaemenids. Unlike the other languages and dialects, ancient and modern, of the Iranian group such as Avestan, Parthian, Soghdian, Kurdish, Balochi, Pashto, etc., Old Persian, Middle Persian, and New Persian represent one and the same language at three states of its history. It had its origin in Fars (the true Persian country from the historical point of view) and is differentiated by dialectical features, still easily recognizable from the dialect prevailing in north-western and eastern Iran."</ref><ref name="Richard Davis 2006. pp. 602-603"/><ref name="Lazard, Gilbert 1971">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Lazard |first=Gilbert |title=Pahlavi, Pârsi, dari: Les langues d'Iran d'apès Ibn al-Muqaffa |editor-first=R.N. |editor-last=Frye |encyclopedia=Iran and Islam. In Memory of the late Vladimir Minorsky |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year=1971}}</ref><ref name="Nushin Namazi">{{cite web |url=http://cgi.stanford.edu/group/wais/cgi-bin/?p=24327 |title=Persian Loan Words in Arabic |first=Nushin |last=Namazi |date=24 November 2008 |access-date=1 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520151330/http://cgi.stanford.edu/group/wais/cgi-bin/?p=24327 |archive-date=20 May 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Classe 2000 1057">{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of literary translation into English |last=Classe |first=Olive |year=2000 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=1-884964-36-2 |page=1057 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C1uXah12nHgC&pg=PA1057 |quote=Since the Arab conquest of the country in 7th century AD, many loan words have entered the language (which from this time has been written with a slightly modified version of the Arabic scri