اسفناج
“اسفناج” (esfenâzh) — spinach in Persian. Noun, level A1, topic — food and drink. The leaf that turns stews green — and the word that walked west into "spinage" ages ago. In a live sentence: “اسفناج سبز و تازه است.” — Spinach is green and fresh. Written with the characters ا, س, ف, ن, ا, ج. One of 176 words in the set “food and drink” in the Persian course.
In short
| Written in Persian | اسفناج |
| Read in Latin letters | esfenâzh |
| Translation | spinach |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
The leaf that turns stews green — and the word that walked west into "spinage" ages ago
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- اسفناج سبز و تازه است.esfenâzh sebz va tâze ast.Spinach is green and fresh.
Nearby words: food and drink
A menu, a market, a shop sign, the question “what is this?”. Food is the most frequent subject of the first weeks and the safest excuse to start talking.
- چایchayteaThe national drink, drunk in armchair glasses all day. The word travelled west with the leaf itself: chaay became the tea of half the world
- قهوهgâghvecoffeeCovers both the drink and the café where it is served — qahve-khane is a teahouse. The word is the ancestor of European "café"
- آبâbwaterOne syllable, and it opens half the compound words of food: ab-mive juice, ab-miondani mineral water. The a is long
- نانnânbreadFlat, baked fresh twice a day. Nun-e barbari and nun-e sangak are the names you meet at the bakery door
- شیرshirmilkSame word as in shirini, pastry — sweetness and milk share a root of gentleness. Also lives in shir-mal, a soft milk roll
- نوشیدنnâshidanto drinkThe dictionary form. Speech uses the stem nush — mi-nusham, I drink. From the same root as nushidani, any drinkable thing
- غذاghazafoodThe general word for a meal and for a dish. Ghazaha-ye daryai — seafood — is the same word in the plural
- پنیرpanircheeseWhite brined cheese, the breakfast partner of bread. The pair nun o panir is one phrase, like "bread and butter"
- گوشتgushtmeatMeat in general; the animal names follow it: gusht-e morgh, chicken meat. The gh is deep, gargled
- ماهیmâhifishOne word for the animal and the food. Mahi-e sefid, the white fish of the north, is the festive one
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “food and drink”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “spinach” in Persian?
The leaf that turns stews green — and the word that walked west into "spinage" ages ago
- How do you say “food” in Persian?
The general word for a meal and for a dish. Ghazaha-ye daryai — seafood — is the same word in the plural
- How do you say “water” in Persian?
One syllable, and it opens half the compound words of food: ab-mive juice, ab-miondani mineral water. The a is long
- How do you say “fish” in Persian?
One word for the animal and the food. Mahi-e sefid, the white fish of the north, is the festive one
- How do you say “to drink” in Persian?
The dictionary form. Speech uses the stem nush — mi-nusham, I drink. From the same root as nushidani, any drinkable thing
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “spinach” in Persian?
«اسفناج», read “esfenâzh”. In a live sentence: “اسفناج سبز و تازه است.” — Spinach is green and fresh. Noun, level A1, from the set “food and drink”; written with the characters ا, س, ف, ن, ا, ج.
How is “اسفناج” written in Latin letters?
esfenâzh. This is a practical spelling — you need it to read aloud and be understood, not to meet an academic standard.
Why does this word look the way it does?
The leaf that turns stews green — and the word that walked west into "spinage" ages ago. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.