Persian

UK: /ˈpɜː^rʃ^ən/ US: (pûr′zhən, -shən)

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

Per•sian  (pûr′zhən, -shən), adj. 

1. Language Varieties, Place Names of or pertaining to ancient and recent Persia (now Iran), its people, or their language.

n. 

2. Place Names, Language Varieties a member of the native peoples of Iran, descended in part from the ancient Iranians.
3. Place Names, Language Varieties a citizen of ancient Persia.
4. Language Varieties an Iranian language, the principal language of Iran and western Afghanistan, in its historical and modern forms. Cf. Old Persian, Pahlavi, Farsi. 
5. Architecture a figure of a man used as a column.
6. Furniture Persians. See Persian blinds. 

• Middle French; replacing Old English Persisc (see -ish¹)
• 1325–75; Persi(a) + -an; replacing Middle English Persien

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

Persian / ˈpɜːʃən/ adjective

1. of or relating to ancient Persia or modern Iran, their inhabitants, or their languages

noun

1. a native, citizen, or inhabitant of modern Iran; an Iranian
2. the language of Iran or Persia in any of its ancient or modern forms, belonging to the West Iranian branch of the Indo-European family
   See also Avestan, Pahlavi2, Farsi