Terminology

Knot (Gereh):
Typically a traditional Persian carpet is tied with a single looping knot while the traditional Anatolian carpet is tied with a double looping knot .Today it is common to see carpets woven in both turkey and Iran using either of the two knot styles.

Warp (Tar, Chelleh):
Warps are narrow multi bended and usually cotton strings that must be installed in the frame (Daar) vertically and the knots are tied on them.
In fine woven carpets silk warps should be used in order to provide the desired strength, but the carpets woven in tribal and rural areas should be made of woolen warps to have resistance against cold and moisture and also for being soft & flexible for an easy transport in immigration.

Grade (Nomreh):
Grade of string represents the number of hanks used in it. The usual grades of single folded cotton strings used in carpet weaving are 5, 10, 20 and sometimes 40.

Cotton (Panbeh):
Cotton is made of cellulose fibers that are taken from seed pot of cotton plant.

Denier:
Denier is a unit of fineness for rayon, nylon and silk fibers. The more the number of Denier, the thicker the silk string is. In carpet weaving the strings of 60 to 160 Deniers are used and the thinner ones are used in cloth weaving.

Silk:
Silk is made of very long protein fibers that silk worms spin around it to produce cocoon.

Metric:
Metric is the unit of measuring the thickness of woolen strings used in carpet weaving. The more the metric number is, the finer the woolen string becomes. The most common metric numbers for strings are 3 to 10.

Woolen string (Khameh):
Khameh is an expression in carpet weaving called to woolen strings made from two hanks used in knot tying.

Spring Wool (Pashm Bahareh):
Spring wool is cut from sheep in late winter and early spring before the first fall that is of higher quality from autumn wool because of having more fineness and long fibers and less dust and soil.

Soft Wool (Kork):
Soft wool is fine fibers among goat or camel hairs, but in carpet weaving it is called to long and fine woolen fibers like the wool of merinos' sheep.


Wool (Pashm):
Wool is thick and curly hairs that grow on the skin.

Rim (Kamaneh):
Rim is a piece of wood or pipe that changes place of the above & beneath warps and creates a crossed row some centimeters up the weaving site.

Warp Drawing (Chelleh Keshi):
Warp drawing is called to installing warps on the frame to weave the carpet in a way that they are placed above and beneath alternatively. The beneath warps are placed in the back of carpet and are covered with pile and the above warps are placed inside the carpet. Warp drawing is fulfilled as three methods Persian, Turkish and combinational.

Pile Length (Toule Porz):
It is the length of pile fibers.

Stem (Risheh):
The stem of carpet is made of warp pairs (above warp & beneath warp) that make the basis which the carpet is woven on. The dimensions and row number of the carpet are closely related to the stems.

Row Number (Raj Shomar):
Row number is called to the number of knots tied in a length of 6.5 or 7 cm of carpet. Row number of a carpet depends on weaving style and the material used.

Row (Raj):
Series of lengthwise & widthwise knots are called row.

Zar Knot (Gereh Zarei):
Zar knot is 1/16 zar or 1/4 charak that is 6.5cm in Farsibaf and 7cm in Turkibaf areas.

Charak:
Charak is 1/4 zar that is 26cm in Farsibaf and 28cm in Turkibaf areas.

Zar:
Zar is the unit for measurement of carpet length from ancient times that equals to 104 cm in Farsibaf and 112 cm in Turkibaf areas.

To Tie (Gereh Zadan):
To tie is twisting the woolen or silk strings around the carpet warps in the process of weaving.

Citron Head (Sar Toranj):
Citron head is called to a figure that is usually drawn in the beginning and the end of citron design.

Citron (Toranj):
Citron is called to the central part of carpet design that is usually circular or elliptical.

Background (Zamineh):
Background is the basic part of carpet design that the figures and flowers are drawn on it and often is chosen in red, creamy, dark blue or black.

Margin (Hashiyeh):
Margin of carpets are usually surrounding the central design of the carpet in narrow and thick forms. The presence of a thick margin between two narrows results in an odd number of thick margins.

Frame or Holder (Dar):
Frame is called to an instrument made from wood or metal .A frame is composed of the following parts frame top, frame bottom and frame sides (Rastro). Depending upon the way of placement of frame on the ground, these instruments become of different types: vertical and horizontal.

Weaving Tools (Abzaare Baft):
Weaving tools are instruments used in carpet weaving:

Weft (Pood):
Wefts are usually made from cotton fibers and are installed in the carpet horizontally.
Weft hold warps besides each other and usually are colored for being seen better among warps.

Thin weft or above weft (Poode Nazok / Roo):
When using thin weft in weaving, the number of bends and twists should be more for providing the necessary strength. The thin weft is drawn above the crossed warps and places over the thick weft in a Zigzag form.

Thick weft or beneath weft (Poode Zakhim / Zeer):
When using thick weft the strings are twisted in one way and it is better for the bends and twists to be less.The thick weft is directly drawn from beneath the crossed warps.