Reduplication in Persian: What It Is and How to Use It

Updated: 8 July 2019

Kâr mâr, ghâti pâti, sefid-e sefid, fes fes, chap chap, khar tu khar. If you’ve spent time around Iranians, you may have noticed this peculiar pattern of repeating and rhyming words known as reduplication. English has its fair share (sometimes with perfect Persian equivalents), but I’d argue that it’s much more common in Persian. Who knows- maybe it’s our poetic nature. As is often the case, when I come up with a language-related blog topic, I start to hear it all around me. In reality, the only thing that has probably changed is my awareness of it. And this time was no different. I started to hear reduplication everywhere (sometimes it was ridiculous!) which seemed to only increase the urgency to write this post. So, let’s get to it- find out exactly what reduplication in Persian is, examples of its different types, and how to use it to sound more native-like.

What is reduplication?

Simply put, reduplication in linguistics is a morphological process where part or all of a word is doubled or changed ever so slightly. Think of the English “fancy-schmancy”, “chop chop”, “bling bling”, “easy-peasy”, or “chit-chat.”

Reduplication in Persian

Persian uses a lot of reduplication… I mean a lot! In fact, you’ll probably hear it every day (or have heard it without even realizing it). And while there are different forms of it, the most common one is arguably…

Substituting “m” and “p”

I was in a taxi with a driver who kept calling his friend to find out the score of the Persepolis-Esteghlal derby. “Bâzi mâzi chetore? Natije matije chi-e?” (How’s the game and stuff? What’s the score and stuff?) Later, we drove down a street which has newly become another hub of food trucks in Tehran. “They have all kinds of ghazâ mazâ [food and stuff] here… like pizza mizza [pizza and stuff].” He literally couldn’t talk without using this form of reduplication (and neither can most Iranians). 

As you can see, you double the first word and substitute “m” or “p” for the first letter (and make the words rhyme). How do you know which one? Well, my grad school days of deciphering this linguistically are long gone (would have made a nice project come to think of it), so let’s just say that a) “m” is more common, b) if the word starts with “m” then definitely go with “p”, and c) you’ll get the hang of it. As for the meaning of this form of reduplication? When used with a noun, it means “and stuff” or “and so on.” With an adjective, it’s an intensifier.

کتاب متاب / ketâb metâb / books and stuff

پتو متو / patu matu / blankets and stuff

میوه پیوه / miveh piveh / fruit and stuff

چیز میز / chiz miz / things and stuff

پول مول / pul mul / money and stuff

عکس مکس / aks maks / pictures and stuff

کار مار / kâr mâr / work and stuff

کوچولو موچولو / kuchulu muchulu / teensy weensy

ظریف مریف / zarif marif / slim and slender

There’s a restaurant in Tehran called Mestooran which I’m assuming comes from this feature (get it? Resturan Mestooran) because I laughed the first time I heard it and thought, “Clever name!”

You’ll also hear this in the song Bikhial by Afshin where he says, “kelâs melâs o bikhiâl, lisâns misâns o bikhiâl…” (never mind your classes and stuff, never mind your degree and stuff).

Note: This one is the most flexible in the sense that you could, theoretically, do this with any noun or adjective. The ones that follow, however, aren’t quite as flexible because they are sort of fixed phrases. Saying something outside of what’s established or commonly heard might sound strange.

Combinations with the ezâfe /e/

This is one that I noted in the lyrics and translation post of Khuneye Mâ by Marjan Farsad. Basically, you double the adjective and connect them with an ezâfe (/e/) to mean “very” or “completely.” As in:

داغِ داغ / dâgh-e dâgh (very hot)

خوبِ خوب / khub-e khub (very well)

سفیدِ سفید / sefid-e sefid (completely white)

توپِ توپ / tup-e tupe (completely fine; awesome)

But as I noted above, intensifying all adjectives in this manner won’t work. Some will end up sounding a little unnatural. Take خسته / khasteh / tired, for instance. It’s more common to say خیلی خسته / kheyli khasteh / very tired.

Doubling the word

Then there’s quite simply doubling the word. For instance:

راه راه / râh râh / [stripe-stripe] striped

بزن بزن / bezan bezan / [hit hit] brawl; melee

بخور بخور / bokhor bokhor / [eat eat] eat a lot

کل کل / kal kal / argument

فس فس کردن / fes fes kardan / to dawdle; dillydally

فین فین کردن / fin fin kardan / [sniff sniff] to sniff/sniffle

خر خر کردن / khor khor kardan / [snore snore] to snore

My personal favorite is چپ چپ نگاه کردن / chap chap negâh kardan (to look left left) which means “to glare”, “to scowl”, or “to give someone the stink eye.”

When Team Melli plays soccer, you’ll hear one person call out, “Iran chekâresh mikone?” And the crowd answers, “Surâkh surâkhesh mikone.” Surâkh means “hole” so the reduplication (سوراخ سوراخ / surâkh surâkh, or “hole hole”) means “having many holes.” Fans imply that Iran will score so many goals that the net will end up with holes in it.  

Around Nowruz, Haji Firooz sings out بشکن بشکنه / beshkan beshkan-e… (it’s a snap, snap…) as part of his nonsense song.

There’s also قیمه قیمه / gheymeh gheymeh, which means to cut meat into tiny pieces (like they do for gheymeh stew). Incidentally, you can also threaten someone with this one. 

We can get poetic and talk about نم نم باریدن / nam nam [droplets] bâridan (to sprinkle/drizzle). Or پر پر کردن / par par (feather feather) kardan, which is to pluck petals off a flower.

You might have heard of دور دور / dor dor (around around) when youngsters drive around at night and exchange phone numbers. 

Surely you remember the auditory compliment به به / bah bah. No further explanation needed.

But here are two practical ones you can use right away. The next time you are out with someone and need to get going, say:

.کم کم / یواش یواش باید بروم

Kam kam [little little] / yavâsh yavâsh [slowly slowly] bâyad beram.

I should [slowly] get going.

You can use either one. If that doesn’t make you sound native-like, I don’t know what will.

Repeating the first part of the word

In these, the first part of the word is repeated, and then a suffix is added. As in:

هل هلکی / hol holaki / [hurry hurry] hurriedly

زور زورکی / zur zuraki / [force force] by force

فرفری / fer feri / curly

خط خطی / khat khati / lined/scribble

فس فسو / fes fes-u / a dawdler

نق نقو / negh negh-u / a nagger

غر غرو / ghor ghor-u / a growler [an unpleasant person who always complains]

I used to hear خوش خوشک / khosh khoshak [happy happy] all the time as a kid. For instance, we were a big group and couldn’t all fit in the car, so someone would say, “You guys go with the car, and we’ll walk khosh khoshak and meet you there.” (We’ll come leisurely/without rushing.)

Combinations with “o”

This pattern of reduplication seems to be more like echo words. While some of them can be used individually, they are commonly used in pairs.

شل و ول / shol o vel / lax; flabby; loosey-goosey

جمع و جور / jam o jur / neat and tidy

چرت و پرت / chert o pert / nonsense

خرت و پرت / khert o pert / junk; knickknacks; odds and ends

تق و لق / tagh o lagh / unstable; shaky; see more here

پرت و پلا / part o palâ / scattered

قروقاتی / ghar o ghâti / chaotic; pell-mell

چرب و چیلی / charb o chili / very greasy

Adding “ke” between two verbs

Adding the particle که / ke between two verbs expresses a sense of indifference, like “who cares?” or “so what?”. Take the following dialogue:

A: مهدی رفت / Mehdi raft. / Mehdi left.

B: رفت که فرت / Raft ke raft. / [I don’t care] that he left.

Or another example:

A: پولم را پس نداد / Pulamo pas nadâd. / S/he never paid me back.

B: نداد که نداد / Nadâd ke nadâd. / [So what] that they didn’t pay you back.

The examples of Persian reduplication in this post are by no means exhaustive nor are they meant to be because it’s virtually impossible to do that. This was just my attempt at introducing it and providing an explanation because it is so freakishly common. Hopefully, it will make you more aware of its use and give you a boost of confidence to try it out for yourself- especially the kam kam / yavâsh yavâsh one! 

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