English words that came from Persian

You already speak a little Persian. English has borrowed dozens of words from it, often through other languages.

Persian is an Indo-European language, a distant relative of English, and over centuries it has lent English a surprising number of everyday words, usually arriving through Arabic, Turkish, Greek, or French.

Markets, travel, and clothes

Bazaar (bâzâr, market), caravan (kârvân), and kiosk (kushk, pavilion) all come from Persian. So do clothing words: pajamas (pâ-jâme, leg garment), khaki (khâki, dust-coloured), and shawl (shâl).

Food and gardens

Pistachio (peste), spinach (esfenâj), lemon (limu), and orange (nârang) trace back to Persian. Even candy connects to qand (sugar), and jasmine to yâsamin.

The famous two

Checkmate comes from shâh mât, "the king is helpless," from the Persian love of chess. And paradise descends from an Old Persian word, pairi-daêza, meaning a walled garden.

Spotting these shared roots is more than trivia. It is a reminder that Persian has been in conversation with the wider world, and with English, for a very long time.