Persian, Farsi, Dari, Tajik: one language, several names

Persian is spoken in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan and has a thousand years of literature. A short guide to its names and its history.

By Irooni editorial · 14 November 2026 · 2 min read

Drafted with AI assistance. Checked and approved for publication by the Irooni editor.

In English the language is usually called Persian. Its speakers call it Fārsi in Iran, where the name comes from Fars, the region that gave the Persians their name. In Afghanistan the standard form is often called Dari, and in Tajikistan the same language is called Tajik.

Names

“Persian” is the traditional English name and the one used in books on the language and literature. “Farsi” is the Persian word for the same thing and is common in everyday English, but some scholars prefer “Persian” because it covers the language across all three countries and all periods. Irooni uses Persian.

A long history

Persian belongs to the Indo-European family, in its Iranian branch. Linguists speak of three stages. Old Persian is known from royal inscriptions of the Achaemenid kings. Middle Persian was the language of the Sasanian empire. New Persian began to be written in the early Islamic period, from about the 9th century, in an Arabic-based script, and the form of the language is close to what is spoken today.

Documented

New Persian is written in a modified Arabic script and has many Arabic loanwords, but its grammar and basic vocabulary are Iranian.

A language of courts and poetry

From the 10th century on, poets such as Ferdowsi wrote in Persian, and many later courts, in Central Asia, India and Anatolia, used it for literature and administration. As a result, Persian words and ideas are found in many other languages, from Urdu and Turkish to Armenian.

Many languages in Iran

Persian is the official language and the common language in Iran, but it is not the only one. Many people speak Azerbaijani, Kurdish, Luri, Gilaki, Mazandarani, Balochi, Arabic or other languages at home. This variety is part of the country’s cultural life, and it is one reason to be careful when equating “Iranian” with “Persian”.

Dialects and register

Spoken Persian differs from the written form, with contractions and a distinct rhythm. Learners meet this early: a sentence in a book and the same sentence in speech can look and sound quite different.