Library / English Dictionary

PERSIAN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The language of Persia (Iran) in any of its ancient forms

Synonyms:

Farsi; Persian

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("Persian" is a kind of...):

Iranian; Iranian language (the modern Persian language spoken in Iran)

Domain member category:

Noruz; Nowrooz; Nowruz ((Persian) the new year holiday in Iran and Azerbaijan and Afghanistan and Pakistan and parts of India and among the Kurds; comes at the vernal equinox)

Derivation:

Persian (of or relating to Iran or its people or language or culture)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A native or inhabitant of Iran

Example:

the majority of Irani are Persian Shiite Muslims

Synonyms:

Irani; Iranian; Persian

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("Persian" is a kind of...):

Asian; Asiatic (a native or inhabitant of Asia)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "Persian"):

Farsi (a person of Iranian descent)

Instance hyponyms:

Artaxerxes; Artaxerxes I (king of Persia who sanctioned the practice of Judaism in Jerusalem (?-424 BC))

Artaxerxes; Artaxerxes II (king of Persia who subdued numerous revolutions and made peace with Sparta (?-359 BC))

Holonyms ("Persian" is a member of...):

Iran; Islamic Republic of Iran; Persia (a theocratic Islamic republic in the Middle East in western Asia; Iran was the core of the ancient empire that was known as Persia until 1935; rich in oil)

Derivation:

Persian (of or relating to Iran or its people or language or culture)

 II. (adjective) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Of or relating to Iran or its people or language or culture

Example:

Iranian security police

Synonyms:

Iranian; Persian

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Derivation:

Persia (a theocratic Islamic republic in the Middle East in western Asia; Iran was the core of the ancient empire that was known as Persia until 1935; rich in oil)

Persian (the language of Persia (Iran) in any of its ancient forms)

Persian (a native or inhabitant of Iran)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Was this the luxurious Lord John Roxton who had sat that evening in the Albany amidst his Persian rugs and his pictures in the pink radiance of the tinted lights?

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But with me there is a limit, and when I find a man who keeps his cigars in the coal-scuttle, his tobacco in the toe end of a Persian slipper, and his unanswered correspondence transfixed by a jack-knife into the very centre of his wooden mantelpiece, then I begin to give myself virtuous airs.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The resources of his mind on this occasion were truly astonishing: his conversation was full of imagination; and very often, in imitation of the Persian and Arabic writers, he invented tales of wonderful fancy and passion.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)