10 Sweet Persian Terms of Endearment to Call Your Loved Ones

Updated: 8 July 2019

With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, there’s no better time to tell your loved ones just how much you adore them- in Persian, of course! Check out these 10 sweet terms and phrases of endearment that you can call friends, family, and lovers.

Terms of Endearment

Azizam

Azizam literally means “my dear” and is a general term of endearment that you can use with anyone- friend, family, lover, old, young. You’ll even hear women who are total strangers call each other azizam. There have been a couple of times when I was riding the metro and a woman who was selling make-up asked me to hold her box of lipstick while she tested the different shades of red on a potential buyer. “Azizam, could you hold this for a sec?” she asked rhetorically handing me the box. Azizam is also the universal name women call other women when they don’t know or don’t remember their actual name. Using azizam is so prevalent that I find myself calling people “dear” in English a lot more than I did 5 years ago. At this point, it seems wrong not to.

Khoshgelam

Literally, “my beautiful”, khoshgelam is a word you can say to your lady friend. Iranian moms also love calling their daughters khoshgelam. Variations on this are khoshgele (usually a man says this) or khoshgel khânum (something like “Miss beautiful”).

Jigar talâ

Calling someone your liver (or “golden liver” in this case) is the ultimate term of endearment. A little strange? Maybe. But hey, for the French, it’s “cabbage.” Every culture has its quirks. 

Though often romantic, jigar doesn’t necessarily have to be. It’s sometimes simply used to show affection. When I call one of my aunts in particular, she spends the first minute or so going jigar, jigar, jigar, jigar… to show how happy she is I called and that she misses me. You can check out other variations of this term in this post.

Eshgham

Eshgham means “my love” and is another term of affection that can be romantic or not. I have a cousin, for instance, who always says, “bâsheh, eshgham” (ok, my love) to end the conversation before she says goodbye on the phone.

Aziz-e delam

Literally “dear of my heart,” aziz-e delam is similar to “sweetheart.” Just like the English, it’s not exclusive to couples and can be used in any loving relationship to express affection.

Phrases to show affection

Âsheghetam

Literally, this is “I love you.” In English, we only really have “I love you”, but this is the “strong” version, almost like, “I’m in love with you.” Think of it as the Persian version of the Spanish te amo. 

Dooset dâram

Literally, “I like you” but used in the sense of “I love you.” This is the “less strong” version of âsheghetam and used more commonly, I would argue. Think of it as the Persian version of the Spanish te quiero.

The correct form is actually doostet dâram (دوستت دارم ), but in speaking, we don’t really hear that first /t/ and it sounds like dooset dâram. In informal Persian writing, it’s also spelled that way, دوست دارم .

Kharâbetam

Literally, “I’m ruined for you”. This is a romantic slang phrase commonly used to mean that you are so crazy about a person and would do anything for them.

Divunatam

Literally, “I’m crazy about you.” Pretty self explanatory.

Miboosamet

If you’re in a long-distance relationship (or just far from someone you love), miboosamet, or “I kiss you [I’m sending you kisses]” will come in handy. It’s often used to end a phone conversation with your loved one. For example, I always say this to my aunts before I say khodâ hâfez and hang up. Alternatively, you could say: az dur miboosamet (I kiss you [I’m sending you kisses] from afar). 

Share it on Pinterest