Wiktionary:Persian transliteration

These are the rules concerning transliteration in Persian entries.

This page focuses on Iranian Persian, for transliteration rules concerning Classical Persian or Dari Persian see Persian transliteration/Dari.

Persian transliteration

Systems for Romanizing Persian

Persian	Wiktionary	IPA	Others (dispreferred)
ا‎ (word-initial)	a, o, e	(ʔ)æ, (ʔ)o, (ʔ)e
ا‎ (other positions)	â	ɒː	ā
آ‎	â (word-initial) -â (other positions)	(ʔ)ɒː (word-initial) ʔɒː (other positions)	ʼā
ب‎	b	b
پ‎	p	p
ت‎	t	t
ث‎	s	s	th, s̱, ṯ, s̄
ج‎	j	dʒ	ǧ
چ‎	č	tʃ	ch, c
ح‎	h	h	ḥ, ḩ
خ‎	x	x	kh, k͟h, ḫ, ḵ
د‎	d	d
ذ‎	z	z	dh, d͟h, ẕ, ḏ
ر‎	r	r
ز‎	z	z
ژ‎	ž	ʒ	zh, z͟h
س‎	s	s
ش‎	š	ʃ	sh, s͟h
ص‎	s	s	ṣ
ض‎	z	z	ḍ, ż, ẕ
ط‎	t	t	ṭ, ţ
ظ‎	z	z	ẓ, z̧
ع‎	'	ʔ, ː	ʻ
غ‎	ğ	ɣ, ɢ	q, gh, g͟h, ġ
ف‎	f	f
ق‎	q	ɣ, ɢ	gh, g͟h, ḳ
ک‎	k	k
گ‎	g	g
ل‎	l	l
م‎	m	m
ن‎	n	n
و‎ (consonant)	v	v	w
و‎ (long vowel)	u, ô	uː, oː	ū, ō
و‎ (diphthong)	ow	ow	au, aw
خوا‎ (e.g. خواندن‎ etc.)	xâ	xɒː	xwā-, khwā-
خوی‎ (e.g. خوید‎ etc.)	xi	xiː
ه‎ (consonant)	h (may appear in final position after a vowel, e.g. ده‎ (dah))	h
ـه‎ (word-final vowel)	e	e, æ	eh, a, ah
ی‎ (consonant)	y	j	j
ی‎ (long vowel)	i, ê	iː, eː	ī, ē
ی‎ (diphthong)	ey	ej	ai, ay
یٰ‎ (always word-final)	â	ɒː	ā, á

Other symbols or combinations

1. ـاً‎, ءً‎ (always word-final) – an (The position of [fatHatan] is after the alef, not before, as is the current practice with Arabic)
2. ء‎ – ' (others: ʼ)
3. ؤ‎ – ' (others: ʼ)
4. ئ‎ – ' (others: ʼ)
5. ـِ‎ (ezâfe) (always word-final, unmarked in regular writing) – -e
6. یِ‎ (ezâfe) (after long vowels ا‎ (â) or و‎ (u), unmarked in regular writing) - -ye

   ‏آفریقایِ جنوبی‎ ― âfriqâ-ye jonubi ― South Africa

7. یِ‎ (ezâfe) (always word-final with ی‎, unmarked in regular writing) - i-ye

   ‏جمهوریِ تاجیکستان‎ ― jomhuri-ye tâjikestân ― Republic of Tajikistan

8. ـهٔ‎ (U+0647 U+0654), sometimes written as ـه‌ی‎ (always word-final) – e-ye. (Articles don't contain the hamze above "he", it is considered a diacritic and only used in the dsplay using |head=. Templates link to words without the hamze.)

   ‏خانهٔ بزرگ‎ (spelled with a hamze diacritic) ― xâne-ye bozorg ― a big house

   ‏خانه‌ی بزرگ‎ (spelled with a a non-connecting ye) ― xâne-ye bozorg ― a big house

9. ـه‌ای‎ - e-yi
10. نه‎ (“no, not”) - na (an exception)
11. ـّ‎ (tashdid) – geminate consonant (Arabic shadda)
12. ـَ‎ (fathe/zor) – a (Arabic fatha)
13. ـِ‎ (kasre/zir) – e (in modern Iranian, to check cases where it's "i") (Arabic kasra)
14. ـُ‎ (zamme/pish) – o (in modern Iranian, to check cases where it's "u") (Arabic damma). Used after consonants to make a short "o" sound. If used before و‎ produces a diphthong "ow":

    نُوروز‎ (nowruz)

15. ـّ‎ (shadda) – geminate consonant
16. ـ۟‎ (sukūn/sokun) - marks absence of a vowel. Rarely used in popular Persian vocalisations, especially on final consonants. It may be necessary to use consistently in strict vocalisations to avoid any misreadings, allow automation and signalling that a word IS vocalised.
17. ـه‎ (in the word-final position after consonants for a large number of words) - e (no hyphen) (note with ezâfe the preferred spelling is ـهٔ‎)

    ‏هفته‎ ― hafte ― week

18. ـه‎ - when used as a colloquial copula in the 3rd person singular (he/she/it is) - -e (with a hyphen)

    ‏تهرون پایتخت ایرونه.‎‎ (colloquial) ― tehrun pâytaxt-e irun-e. ― Tehran is the capital of Iran.

19. ZWNJ – - (hyphen)
20. The use of hyphens for etymological reasons - suffixes, compound words, etc. when no ZWNJ is used is to be discussed. E.g. currently plural form suffix ها‎ is transliterated as "-hâ" regardless if ZWNJ is present or not. (Apart from cases described above and ZWNJ, the use of hyphen is otherwise dispreferred. A space is transliterated as a space and the absence of space or ZWNJ is transliterated as nothing.)

    Below are transliteration examples to contrast the use of ZWNJ on connecting letters, space, nothing and non-connecting letters:

    ZWNJ on joining letters کتاب‌ها‎ (ketâb-hâ) (plural of کتاب‎ (ketâb))

    Space کتاب ها‎ (ketâb hâ)

    Nothing (joining letters are connected) کتابها‎ (ketâbhâ)

    Non-joining letters (no ZWNJ is used) اتوها‎ (otuhâ) (plural of اتو‎ (otu))

Arabic loanwords

1. ـة‎ (always word-final) – a(t) (rare, only in unadapted borrowings from Arabic, normally adapted into Persian as ـت‎ (at) or ـه‎ (e))
2. الـ‎ - al (normally), can be "al-" (with a hyphen), if identified as the Arabic definite article. "l" can change to the following consonant if it's a "sun letter","a" can change to "o" (Arabic "u") in ezâfe, e.g.

   فارغ‌التحصیل‎ (fâreğ-ot-tahsil) - here "l" is assimilated to "t" and "a" is changed to "o" following Arabic grammar rules (technically, Arabic "u" belongs to the previous word: "fāriḡu t-taḥṣīli").

3. الـ‎ - l or the next consonant (assimilated for Arabic "sun letters"). The alef is silent.

   بالفعل‎ (belfe'l) from Arabic بِٱلْفِعْلِ‎ (bi-l-fiʕli) where the alif is silent (أَلِف الوَصْل‎ (ʔalif al-waṣl))