تهران

Persian

Alternative forms

Etymology

There are various theories pertaining to the origin of the name Tehran:

  • One theory is that the word "Tehran" is derived from Tiran/Tirgan, "The Abode of Tir", a Zoroastrian deity. The ancient Parthian town of Tiran was a neighbour to the town of Mehran, "The Abode of Mihr", the Zoroastrian deity of light. Both of these were mere villages in the suburbs of the great city of ری (“Ray”).
  • Another theory is that Tehran means "a warm place", opposed to Shemiran, a cooler district in northern Tehran.
  • The official City of Tehran website claims that "Tehran" comes from the Persian words ته (tah, “end, bottom”) and ران (rân, “mountain slope”, literally “bottom of the mountain slope”). Given Tehran's geographic position at the bottom of the slope of the Alborz Mountains, this appears to be the most plausible explanation of the origin of the name of the city.

Pronunciation
 
  • (Dari, formal) IPA(key): [t̪ʰe̞ɦ.ɾɑ́ːn]
    • (Kabuli) IPA(key): [t̪ʰɪ.ɾɑ́ːn]
    • (Hazaragi) IPA(key): [t̪ʰi.ɾɔ́ːn]
 

Readings
Classical reading? tahrān
Dari reading? tehrān
Iranian reading? tehrân
Tajik reading? tehron
  • Audio (Iran)(file)
  • pronunciation shift from tahrān to tehrān/tehrân occurred around the 20th century [1]

Proper noun

تِهْران • (tehrân)

Dari تِهْران
Iranian Persian
Tajik Теҳрон
  1. Tehran (the capital city of Iran)
  2. Tehran (a province of Iran)

Synonyms

Derived terms

References
  1. Prokosch, Erich (2015) “Neupersische Lexikographie seit der Mitte des 17. Jahrhunderts– Erster Teil”, in Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes‎ (in German), volume 105, page 276:
    Die moderne Aussprache des Namens der Hauptstadt schwankt noch immer zwischen Tahrān und Tehrān - sowohl im Mund von Einwohnern der Hauptstadt als auch im Munde anderer Iraner – doch scheint sich Tehrān heute doch mehr und mehr durchzusetzen. Der Grad der Schwierigkeit ist etwa dadurch zu illustrieren, dass mir ein Teheraner vo[r] etwa 30 Jahren ebenso bestimmt „Tahrān“ als die Aussprache angab wie ein Teheraner vo[r] etwa 20 Jahren mit „Tehrān“.
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