Persian body-part expressions

Persian loves to build feeling and meaning out of the body, and the pattern goes well beyond the heart and the eye.

Two body words, cheshm (eye) and del (heart), anchor whole families of expressions. But the body keeps showing up across everyday Persian in vivid, useful ways.

Dast, the hand

Dastetun dard nakone دستتون درد نکنه (may your hand not hurt) thanks someone for effort. Dast be dast means hand to hand, passing something along, and dast-o-delbaz describes a generous, open-handed person.

Sar, the head

Sar be sar gozashtan سر به سر گذاشتن means to tease or wind someone up. Khak bar saram (dirt on my head) is a dramatic "oh no," and sar shodam can mean to get the hang of something.

Zaboon and jegar

Zaboon-baz زبون‌باز (tongue-player) is a smooth or glib talker. And in a tender twist, jegar جیگر (liver) is a term of endearment: jegaramí means roughly "you're my darling."

Once you see the pattern, body-part idioms become a shortcut to sounding natural, and to understanding the feeling behind what people say.