چهارشنبه‌سوری

Persian

Alternative forms

چهارشنبه سوری (čahāršanba sūrī / čahâršanbe suri)
(colloquial Iran) چاهارشنبه‌سوری (čāhāršanba-sūrī / čâhâršanbe-suri), چاهارشنبه سوری (čāhāršanba sūrī / čâhâršanbe suri)
(colloquial) چارشنبه‌سوری (čāršanba-sūrī / čâršanbe-suri), چارشنبه سوری (čāršanba sūrī / čâršanbe suri)

Etymology

From (čahāršanba / čahâršanbe, “Wednesday”) +‎ (sūrī / suri), either meaning "festive," or more plausibly "red, scarlet," as supported by Isfahani (čâršanba-sorxi) and the common dialectal form (sūr / sur) in place of (surx / sorx), either refering to to the fire itself or to the "ruddiness," (surxī / sorxi, “good health, ripeness”) supposedly obtained by jumping over it.^[1]

Pronunciation

(Classical Persian) IPA^(key): /t͡ʃa.haːɾ.ʃan.ba.suː.ˈɾiː/

(Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [t͡ʃʰä.ɦɑːɾ.ʃäm.beː.suː.ɾiː]
- (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [t͡ʃʰɑːɾ.ʃäm.beː.suː.ɾiː]
- (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [t͡ʃʰɔːɾ.ʃäm.beː.su.ɾi]

(Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [t͡ʃʰæ.ɦɒːɹ.ʃæm.be.suː.ɹiː]
- (Tehrani) IPA^(key): [t͡ʃʰɒː.ɦɒːɹ.ʃæm.be.suː.ɹiː], [t͡ʃʰɒːɹ.ʃæm.be.suː.ɹiː]

(Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [t͡ʃʰä.ɦɔɾ.ʃäm.be.su.ɾi]

Readings
Classical reading^?	čahāršanba-sūrī
Dari reading^?	čahāršanbē-sūrī
Iranian reading^?	čahâršanbe-suri
Tajik reading^?	čahoršambe-suri

Proper noun

چهارشنبه‌سوری • (čahāršanba-sūrī / čahâršanbe-suri) (Tajik spelling Чаҳоршанбесурӣ)

Chaharshanbe Suri (an Iranian festival of the fire dance celebrated on the eve of the last Wednesday of the year, also the first festivity of Nowruz)
Synonym: چارْشَنْبَه‌سُرْخی (čâršanba-sorxi) — Isfahan

Descendants

→ Azerbaijani: Çərşənbə-suri
→ English: Chaharshanbe Suri

References

^ Manouchehr Kasheff; ʿAlī-Akbar Saʿīdī Sīrjānī (15 December 1990), “ČAHĀRŠANBA-SŪRĪ”, in Encyclopædia Iranica, online edition‎^[1], New York, archived from the original on 7 August 2025, retrieved 7 August 2025