شنیدن

From Middle Persian (/⁠âšnūdan⁠/, “to hear, understand”),^[1] from Proto-Iranian *ā- + *xšnaw- (“to hear; to sharpen the ears”). The prefix is from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd (“at”), while the root is from Proto-Indo-Iranian *kšnaw-, from Proto-Indo-European *ksnew- (“to scrape, sharpen”).^[2] Compare Central Kurdish ژنفتن (žiniftin) (in Sanandaj), Zazaki eşnawitiş (“to hear”), Northern Luri ٸشنںفتن (ešnaften).

• Audio (Iran):

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شنیدن • (šenidan) (present stem شنو (šenow, šonow))

1. to hear

   دیدم و نشنیدمشان

   didam o na-šenidam-ešan.

   I saw and didn't hear them.

   • c. 1260s, Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Rūmī, translated by Reynold A. Nicholson, مثنوی معنوی [Masnavi-ye-Ma'navi], volume III, verse 69:

     آن شنیدی تو که در هندوستان
     دید دانایی گروهی دوستان

     ān šunīdī ki dar hindūstān
     dīd dānāyē gurōhē dōstān

     Have you heard that in Hindustan,
     A wise man saw a group of friends?

     (Classical Persian transliteration)

2. to listen

   Synonyms: گوش کردن (guš kardan), گوش دادن (guš dâdan), نیوشیدن (niyušidan)

3. to smell

   Synonym: بوییدن (buyidan)

   • c. 1390, Shams-ud-Dīn Muḥammad Ḥāfiẓ, “Ghazal 322”, in دیوان حافظ [The Divān of Ḥāfiẓ]‎:

     ز کوی یار بیار ای نسیم صبح غباری
     که بوی خون دل ریش از آن تراب شنیدم

     zi kōy-i yār biyār ay nasīm-i subh-i ğubārī
     ki bōy-i xūn-i dil-i rīš az ān turāb šunīdam

     Come out from the beloved's alley, o dusty morning breeze!
     For I have smelled the scent of a wounded heart's blood from that soil.

     (Classical Persian transliteration)

• In spoken Persian, شنیدن (šenidan) and شنفتن (šenoftan) can be used interchangeably.