Iran

The word “Iran” means a country in the Middle East, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, with Tehran as its capital. In plain terms, the country previously known in the West as Persia.

“Iran” is pronounced ih-RAHN (/ɪˈɹɑːn/ in IPA).

Here is “Iran” used in a sentence: “Iran shares borders with Iraq, Turkey, and Pakistan among others.”

“Iran” is a name.

The word “Iran” comes from Persian. From Persian ایران (Irān), ultimately meaning "land of the Aryans," referring to the ancient Iranian peoples.

“Iran” is a fairly common word in modern English.

They are separate neighbouring countries in the Middle East. Iran, formerly Persia, has Tehran as its capital and is mainly Persian-speaking. Iraq, to Iran's west, has Baghdad as its capital and is mainly Arabic-speaking. The two share a long border and fought a war in the 1980s, but their languages, histories, and cultures differ.

Tehran is the capital and largest city of Iran, set in the north of the country near the Alborz mountains. It is the political, economic, and cultural centre, home to millions of people and the seat of the national government. Tehran has served as Iran's capital since the late eighteenth century.

Yes. For centuries the country was known internationally as Persia, after the Pars region and the Persian empires. In 1935 the government formally asked that it be called Iran, meaning 'land of the Aryans', the name locals had long used. Persian still refers to the main language and culture.

The official and most widely spoken language is Persian, known locally as Farsi and written in a modified Arabic script. Iran is also home to speakers of Azeri, Kurdish, Arabic, Balochi, and other languages. Despite the shared script, Persian is unrelated to Arabic and belongs to the Indo-European family.