# Persian: Polite words for body parts



## Jamal31

Hello,

The only words I know for English words like 'vagina', 'penis', 'buttocks' are vulgar words in Persian (i.e. کس , کیر , کون). I was wondering what a non-vulgar way to say these would be? I have never come across them in any non-vulgar context.


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## colognial

I personally use either 'baby' words or a vague euphemism. Here's one I just remembered: آلت تناسلی (aalat e tanaassoli), which means 'the reproduction organ'.


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## Jamal31

What would a doctor say, for example?


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## colognial

not sure, but I think maybe a doctor would use the English terminology. Such terminology would be familiar and yet distant enough to be polite.


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## Jamal31

Ahh ok. I find it kind of odd. Usually languages have a sophisticated and vulgar way of saying these kind of words. For example the English vulgar 'pussy' and non-vulgar 'vagina'.


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## fdb

In English the "polite" words are all Latin, in Persian they are all Arabic.


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## Jamal31

Can you give some examples of Persian ones, fdb?


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## fdb

Jamal31 said:


> Can you give some examples of Persian ones, fdb?



Colognial has mentioned آلت تناسلی, though in Arabic the adjective would agree in gender.


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## Jamal31

So for example فرج could be used in Persian to mean genitals?


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## puya

Here are the polite equivalents:
کیر -> آلت تناسلی , or simply آلت
Also you may hear doctors call it : پنیس (= penis)
کس -> واژن (borrowed from French but common and acceptable in polite contexts)
کون -> مقعد


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## puya

Jamal31 said:


> So for example فجر could be used in Persian to mean genitals?



I think you mean فرج. 
فرج used in fiqh (mullah's jargon) to refer to vagina, but not used by educated people in polite contexts.


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## Jamal31

Thanks Puya, that was very helpful.


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## marrish

اندام نهانی is a polite expression; there's پستان for breasts; کون -> مقعد is not 'buttocks' but 'anus' (سفره)


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## Jamal31

Do you mean to say that كون is anus or مقعد? And سفره is a non-vulgar word for "buttocks"?


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## marrish

مقعد is 'seat' so it can be a word for buttocks. سفره is non-vulgar for anus (I might be wrong though).


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## Jamal31

Ahh I see. But I have often heard things like "کون بزرگ" to say "big ass", so how could it mean 'anus'?

What are Persian speakers thoughts on the following words:

'penis':
نری ‎(nari), قضیب ‎(qazib), ذکر ‎(zakar) and چل ‎(čol).

'vagina':
مهبل 

Are these considered vulgar? And how common are they?


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## colognial

You know more words, Jamal31, than most Iranians seem to, judging by our aggregate performance here! I just don't use anything that was mentioned; they're not in my personal vocabulary. What's more, unless someone explains most of these to me, as you have done above, I won't know what they mean exactly; I just know they exist and are used for private parts. So, here are my thoughts: I will stay on the side of caution! I do have compunctions about using vulgar words, so I won't just go ahead and use these words freely unless I hear highly respectable people use them first in a matter-of-fact manner and in the right sort of situation. But that's me.


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## Jamal31

Thanks for the compliment, colognial, and thanks for your insight into how these words may be used!


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## truce

باسن and نشيمنگاه are polite words for "كون" which are not mentioned here.


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## puya

مقعد is polite word for ass.
باسن is polite word for buttock. نشيمنگاه is also synonym of باسن but is rather archaic and not used in medical context
قُمبُل is vulgar (considered funny not insulting) word for buttock.


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## puya

Jamal31 said:


> Ahh I see. But I have often heard things like "کون بزرگ" to say "big ass", so how could it mean 'anus'?
> 
> What are Persian speakers thoughts on the following words:
> 
> 'penis':
> نری ‎(nari), قضیب ‎(qazib), ذکر ‎(zakar) and چل ‎(čol).
> 
> 'vagina':
> مهبل
> 
> Are these considered vulgar? And how common are they?




کون گُنده is vulgar synonym of 'big ass'.

نری ‎(nari), قضیب ‎(qazib), ذکر ‎(zakar), مهبل
These are quite archaic terms and not common. Never heard them out of fiqh/risalah texts and mullah jargon.

چل ‎(čol): Never heard of this one before.


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## puya

marrish said:


> اندام نهانی is a polite expression; there's پستان for breasts; کون -> مقعد is not 'buttocks' but 'anus' (سفره)



اندام نهایی؟؟؟
سفره؟؟؟
اندام نهایی sounds a funny invention to my ears.
سُفره is equivalent of table cloth which is traditionally spread on the floor underneath the food.


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## molana

Instead of _پستان_ , we usually say_ سینه_. 
breast cancer:_سرطان سینه_


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## Sheikh_14

This is quite interesting indeed so how would you refer to chicken breasts? As murgh-sadr صدر، pistaan or siinah? مقعد is a strange one since originally it means seat yet dictionaries refer to its secondary definition as either the anus or buttocks, so far as technical vocabulary is considered, what would you regard it to be commensurate to? Anus or buttocks, since they are not one in the same?


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## Jamal31

Sheikh_14 said:


> This is quite interesting indeed so how would you refer to chicken breasts? As murgh-sadr صدر، pistaan or siinah?


I have only heard سینه مرغ


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## Sheikh_14

That's quite interesting because in Arabic they also refer to its as a chicken's chest rather than its breasts. Therefore Arabic uses the term sadr and it seems Persian opts for siinah and not pistaan. Does siinah-murgh have an izaafe or its a compound term?  Perhaps Eastern languages tend to associate the breasts more as an integral part of the chest and not distinguished as integral on its own, so much as say English does. Even in Urdu we use siinah far more than chhaaTii and pistaan for breasts even though the term explicitly means chest.


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## Jamal31

Sheikh_14 said:


> That's quite interesting because in Arabic they also refer to its as a chicken's chest rather than its breasts. Therefore Arabic uses the term sadr and it seems Persian opts for siinah and not pistaan. Does siinah-murgh have an izaafe or its a compound term?  Perhaps Eastern languages tend to associate the breasts more as an integral part of the chest and not distinguished as integral on its own, so much as say English does. Even in Urdu we use siinah far more than chhaaTii and pistaan for breasts even though the term explicitly means chest.


I think it's سینهٔ مرغ as in "Seeneh-e Morgh" or "Seeneh-ye Morgh" in colloquial, but hopefully someone can confirm.


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## PersoLatin

Jamal31 said:


> I think it's سینهٔ مرغ as in "Seeneh-e Morgh" or "Seeneh-ye Morgh" in colloquial, but hopefully someone can confirm.


Seeneh-e Morgh  Unless -e is showing elongation, please see below.
Seeneh-ye Morgh 

Or sinéye morq and simply siné morq, the latter pronunciation is becoming more widespread but remember the e before the silent h, is elongated.


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## PersoLatin

Sheikh_14 said:


> Therefore Arabic uses the term sadr and it seems Persian opts for siinah and not pistaan.


Chicken a mamal?


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## molana

Sheikh_14 said:


> مقعد is a strange one since originally it means seat yet dictionaries refer to its secondary definition as either the anus or buttocks, so far as technical vocabulary is considered, what would you regard it to be commensurate to? Anus or buttocks, since they are not one in the same?


مقعد in use today means _anus_.


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## vidaverde

I always thought sineh was chest and pestaan was nipple. Sineh is used for men, women and chicken; pestaan is used for a cow's udder, mammals in general and women's nipples. Pestaanak is the nipple on a baby bottle. I'm not sure whether I've ever heard pestaan used for a man, but I would not find it surprising. Mameh is breast (as in a woman's breast), but I've mostly just heard it used around babies/children.

So besides mameh (breast) and baasan (buttocks), what words would you use to teach private parts to small children?


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## Treaty

I'm not sure if _mame_ is used to teach to children, is it? I personally consider it more awkward than _pestaan_. For penis, some may use _shombul_, especially after it was popularised by a innocent mention in TV (a kid mentioned "I myself wash my _shombul_" as part of his achievements).


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## vidaverde

Ahh yes, shombul. I'm pretty sure I've heard my grandmother use that word. 

I've heard _mame_ used to mean breast/milk when asking nursing children "mame mikhay?" or some similar situation (it's bedtime, so get ready for "mame & lala"). Maybe it's not used for anatomy so much as for just milk purposes.

Any ideas on how one might talk to a two-year-old girl about her private parts?


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## Derakhshan

What about _jiji _جیجی for breast/nipple? It is widely used/mainstream, or regional?


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## Mnemon

Derakhshan said:


> What about _jiji _جیجی for breast/nipple? It is widely used/mainstream, or regional?


That's a regional thing. The closest word that I can think of is "جوجو". (In Mazanadaran province we say it this way )
It seems to me that "جی جی" is used in Gonabad County, right?


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## Derakhshan

We use it in the south... and according to my searches it's also used in Mashhad, Isfahan, Gilan, Sistan and even Afghanistan and Tajikistan. So quite a wide range. Maybe it's just not used in Tehran.


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## ali likes the stars

puya said:


> نری ‎(nari), قضیب ‎(qazib), ذکر ‎(zakar), مهبل
> These are quite archaic terms and not common. Never heard them out of fiqh/risalah texts and mullah jargon.



Can anyone give me clarity about wether مهبل is a good polite term, or wether it's really archaic and mullah related, as puya said?



Derakhshan said:


> What about _jiji _جیجی for breast/nipple? It is widely used/mainstream, or regional?


I know an Iranian from Abadaan. When I first asked him what a good neutral term for vagina is that I can teach my daughter, he said "When we were kids we used to say جیجی."


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## Derakhshan

ali likes the stars said:


> I know an Iranian from Abadaan. When I first asked him what a good neutral term for vagina is that I can teach my daughter, he said "When we were kids we used to say جیجی."


"Baby words" vary heavily by region, around my parts that would be مَمَک _mamak_.


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