Iranian

How to spell iranian

7 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce iranian

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does iranian mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to Iran, its people, language, or culture.
2. nounA person from Iran or of Iranian descent.

Iranian in a sentence

• adjective

  The restaurant serves traditional iranian stews with saffron rice.

• noun

  Every iranian in the office contributed a dish to the shared lunch.

• adjective

  She studied iranian history and the ancient Persian empire at university.

• noun

  As an iranian living abroad, he kept in close touch with his family in Tehran.

Where does iranian come from?

Language of origin: Other

This word is simply the country name Iran combined with the English suffix -ian, which has long been used to form adjectives and nouns meaning 'belonging to' or 'a person from' a place. The name Iran itself comes from the Persian word Iran, which descends from an older form meaning 'land of the Aryans', where the ancient self-designation Arya meant something like 'noble' or 'of the people'. For centuries Western languages called the country Persia, after the southern region of Pars (Fars), and English only widely adopted Iran after the government formally requested the international use of that name in 1935. The suffix -ian arrived in English through Latin and French, where forms like -ianus and -ien attached to place and personal names. Because the word is built so transparently from Iran plus -ian, the spelling trap is mostly the single r and the unstressed middle vowel rather than anything irregular.

How the word is built

• Iran (the country name)
• -ian (suffix forming an adjective or noun of origin)