Iran is far from linguistically uniform. While Persian (Farsi) dominates centrally and is the country’s official language, the reality on the ground is much more layered. Look at a linguistic map of Iran and you’ll see Persian (pink) across most of the plateau, but also red areas for Turkic (Azeri) in the northwest, yellow for Kurdish in the west, green for Arabic in the southwest, purple for Balochi in the southeast, and even a small bright green area in the far southeast – that’s Brahui, a Dravidian language spoken by a small Baloch community. In fact, Iran’s constitution enshrines Persian as the language of government and education, even naming Arabic as the formal language of religion, yet it permits minority languages in cultural and educational contexts. Census data reflect this mix: roughly half of Iranians speak Persian natively (~50.2%), about one-fifth speak Azerbaijani Turkish (~20.6%), and others speak Kurdish (~10%), Luri (~8.9%), the Caspian languages Gilaki/Mazandarani (~7.2%), Arabic (~3.5%), Balochi (~2.7%), Turkmen (~0.6%), Armenian (~0.1%), plus tiny percentages of others.
Persian, Turkic, and Beyond: Iran’s Language Families
All these languages fall into several major families. By far the largest grouping is Indo-European: specifically the Iranic branch of Indo-Iranian. This branch includes Persian, Kurdish, Luri (spoken by the Lurs of western Iran), the Caspian languages (Gilaki and Mazandarani along the Caspian coast), Balochi, Pashto, and others. In Iran, these Iranic (often called “Iranian”) languages cover the heartland and northwest. The Turkic family is the next biggest: Azerbaijani Turkish (often just called Azeri) is spoken by a large minority in northwest Iran, and related dialects like Qashqai and Turkmen appear in central and northeastern Iran. There are also Semitic tongues: Khuzestani Arabic in the southwest (along the Gulf coast) and a few Neo-Aramaic dialects (Assyrian, Chaldean) in pockets of the northwest. A handful of Caucasian languages are present too – Armenian communities around Isfahan and some Circassian villages, though these are very small in modern Iran.
Interestingly, a surprise crop in the southeast is Brahui, a Dravidian language. A remnant Dravidian-speaking tribe survives in the Balochistan region: they speak Brahui rather than an Iranic tongue. This makes Brahui one of the non-Iranic outliers of Iran’s linguistic scene.
These families can blend into local identity. For example, many Iranian Persians also speak local dialects like Luri or Mazandarani that are closely related to standard Persian. Meanwhile, Kurdish dialects (Northern, Sorani, Laki, etc.) span borders into neighboring countries. Today, the Iranian government refers to the country’s main language as “Persian” (فارسی). Linguists also call it Persian or sometimes Fārsi, recognizing it as part of the modern Iranic language family.
Iranic vs. “Iranian” – What’s in a Name?
There’s a common mix-up when it comes to terminology. The phrase “Iranian languages” is sometimes used to describe the group of languages that form a branch of the Indo-European family. But to avoid confusion with the modern nation-state of Iran, many scholars prefer the term Iranic languages. This group includes Persian, Kurdish, Pashto, Balochi, and others, and it refers to a linguistic family, not just the languages spoken inside Iran’s borders.
By contrast, “Iranian” can simply mean anything related to Iran—such as its people, government, or culture—regardless of what language is spoken. So while all Iranic languages are connected by linguistic roots, not all Iranian citizens necessarily speak an Iranic language.
Beyond Iran’s Borders: The Iranic World
Zooming out, the Iranic languages form a regional network that goes far beyond Iran itself. Linguists often map “Iranic” languages spread across the Middle East and Central Asia. In Afghanistan and Tajikistan, for instance, the main languages are Dari and Tajik – essentially varieties of Persian – official alongside Pashto in Afghanistan. In fact, Persian is spoken by over 90 million people worldwide (including in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan). Kurdish is another Iranic language; about 20–30 million Kurds speak Kurdish dialects in Turkey, Iraq, Syria and northwestern Iran. Eastern Iranic tongues include Pashto (roughly 50 million speakers in Afghanistan and Pakistan) and the Balochi language (5–8 million speakers in Balochistan regions of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan). Even further afield, Ossetian – spoken by roughly half a million people in North and South Ossetia (in Russia and Georgia) – is an Iranic language descended from ancient Scytho-Sarmatian dialects.
The map below, created by Dr. Michael Izady shows the distribution of Iranic languages.
These languages aren’t confined to one country’s borders. They stretch from the eastern Mediterranean through Central Asia. So next time you hear someone speaking Kurdish in Erbil, Dari in Kabul, or Tajik in Dushanbe, it’s worth remembering they’re part of this wider language family, just like a Persian speaker in Shiraz or a Balochi speaker in Zahedan.
In my opinion, ‘Oshkosh’ is not an Iranian word. It comes from the Menominee language (a Native American tribe), where it means ‘claw.’ The name is best known from the U.S. city of Oshkosh in Wisconsin, which was named after Chief Oshkosh of the Menominee people.
What does Oshka or Oshkosh mean?
In my opinion, ‘Oshkosh’ is not an Iranian word. It comes from the Menominee language (a Native American tribe), where it means ‘claw.’ The name is best known from the U.S. city of Oshkosh in Wisconsin, which was named after Chief Oshkosh of the Menominee people.