Defying the general conversion in usage, the term "Iranian" with reference to the language of Iran has never gained currency in the west; it is invariably called either "Persian" or "Farsi." Farsi is another form of pronunciation of the original word (Parsi) meaning Persian. Farsi has been the local name for the language ever since the Arab invasion, whereby they were forced to speak Arabic for several centuries. In Arabic the phoneme /p/ does not exist, hence the pronunciation being altered to an /f/. In linguistic usage, the term "Iranian" refers more broadly to the Iranian languages, a larger family of languages of which Persian is a member.

Persian(localnames: & # 1601;& # 1575;& # 1585;& # 1587;ی[f& # 594;& # 720;& # 638;& # 712;si& #720;], Fārsi or پ& # 1575;& # 1585;& # 1587;& # 1740; [p& # 594;& # 720;& # 638;& # 712;siː], P& # 257;rsi; see Nomenclature) is an Indo-European language spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It is derived from the language of the ancient Persian people. It is part of the Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family.

Persian and its varieties have official-language status in Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan. According to CIA World Factbook, based on old data, there are approximately 62 million native speakers of Persian in Iran,[2] Afghanistan,[3] Tajikistan[4] and Uzbekistan[5] and about the same number of people in other parts of the world speak Persian. UNESCO was asked to select Persian as one of its languages in 2006.[6]

Persian has been a medium for literary and scientific contributions to the Islamic world as well as the Western. It has had an influence on certain neighbouring languages, particularly the Turkic languages of Central Asia, Caucasus, and Anatolia. It has had a lesser influence on Arabic and other languages of Mesopotamia.