Word.ws English Dictionary

taarof

taarof noun: the intricate Persian system of etiquette and good manners, emphasising extreme deference, humility, and respect, especially in politely declining to do something (quote a price on something one is selling, eat more food, etc) so that another person can talk one into it.

Noun

taarof (uncountable)

  1. The intricate Persian system of etiquette and good manners, emphasising extreme deference, humility, and respect, especially in politely declining to do something (quote a price on something one is selling, eat more food, etc) so that another person can talk one into it.
  2. A cultural communication style of indirect competitive flattery, generally of Middle Eastern origin.

Forms of taarof

alternative formta'arof
alternative formtarof

Origin of taarof

From Iranian Persian تعارف (ta'ârof), from Classical Persian تعارف (ta'āruf).

Questions about taarof

What does taarof mean?
Taarof means the intricate Persian system of etiquette and good manners, emphasising extreme deference, humility, and respect, especially in politely declining to do something (quote a price on something one is selling, eat more food, etc) so that another person can talk one into it.
What part of speech is taarof?
Taarof is a noun.

Words near taarof in the dictionary

  1. taan
  2. taaniko
  3. taans
  4. taar
  5. taarab
  6. taarof
  7. taars
  8. taas
  9. Taastrup
  10. tab
  11. tab complete

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: taarof (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “taarof.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/taarof. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.