Standard Persian Rug Sizes, and Their Traditional Names

By Storied Rugs8 min read

In stock now: 2006 Persian rugs

View from a hallway into a converted barn living room, a small Persian mat at the doorway and a large red Persian rug beyond

Persian rugs have traditional size names. The smallest common one, the poshti, is about 2 by 3 feet. The dozar is about 4 by 6½ feet, the kenareh is a long runner and the ghali is a room-size carpet. Each name stands for a rough range of sizes. Use the names to picture a rug’s shape, and use a tape measure to decide whether it fits. The standard sizes sold in stores today, from 2 by 3 to 12 by 15 feet, come first below.

Overhead view of a small navy and cream mat, a medium red rug and a long rust runner laid in rows on pale gray concrete — A small mat, a medium rug and a long runner laid out together show how differently the common Persian sizes fill a floor.

What are the standard area rug sizes?

The standard area rug sizes are 2 by 3, 3 by 5, 4 by 6, 5 by 8, 6 by 9, 8 by 10, 9 by 12, 10 by 14 and 12 by 15 feet. Rugs from stores and designer outlets typically come in standard rectangular sizes such as these.^[1] The first number is the width and the second the length, so a 5 by 8 is 5 feet wide and 8 feet long.

The jump between sizes is bigger than the numbers suggest, so it helps to see each one as floor area:

2 by 3: 6 square feet, the standard doormat size.
3 by 5: 15 square feet.
4 by 6: 24 square feet.
5 by 8: 40 square feet.
6 by 9: 54 square feet.
8 by 10: 80 square feet.
9 by 12: 108 square feet.
10 by 14: 140 square feet.
12 by 15: 180 square feet.

Runners have standard sizes of their own, usually 2½ to 3 feet wide and 6 to 12 feet long, and choosing the right runner length lists them. Round rugs are sold by their diameter instead. Shops also group these sizes under different labels, so a “large” rug in one store can be a “medium” in the next. Go by the feet, not the label.

Which size suits which room is a separate question, and how to choose the right rug size answers it room by room. If you think in meters, our chart of rug sizes in centimeters converts them. Vintage Persian rugs, as the rest of this guide shows, were woven to an older set of sizes.

The traditional Persian rug sizes

Sources give slightly different figures for each name, so treat every number here as approximate.

Poshti (also written pushti): about 2 by 3 feet, 60 by 90 cm.
Zarcharak: about 2½ by 4 feet, 80 by 130 cm. Many are narrower, closer to 2 by 4.
Zaronim: about 3 by 5 feet, 100 by 150 cm.
Dozar: about 4 by 6½ feet, 130 by 200 cm, give or take a few inches.
Kenareh: a runner, roughly 2½ to 3½ feet wide and anywhere from 8 to 20 feet long.^[2]
Kellegi (also kelleh): a long carpet, roughly 5 to 8 feet wide and at least twice as long as it is wide.^[2] Figures for this name vary the most.
Ghali (also qali): a room-size carpet, from roughly 6 by 9 feet upward.

Where the names come from

Several of the names count in zar, an old Persian measure of length. It is usually given as 104 cm, a little over 40 inches, though you will see slightly different values. A zaronim is “a zar and a half,” about 5 feet long. A dozar is “two zar,” close to 7 feet. Shorter than both is the zarcharak, “a zar and a quarter,” about 4 feet long. These names only describe the length. The width was never part of the name, which is one reason the figures drift from source to source.

The other names describe a use. Poshti comes from the word for back, because it was woven as a cushion face or something to lean against.^[3] Kenareh means side, kellegi comes from the word for head, and ghali simply means carpet.^[4]

Small deep red Torkaman mat with three guls beside an oak platform bed with white linen, a knit throw, slippers and a monstera — A Torkaman, 2 feet by 2 feet 11 inches (60 by 88 cm). This is a textbook poshti, small enough to sit beside a bed or inside a door.

Why a Persian room needed a kenareh and a kellegi

The long names make sense once you picture the room. A formal room in a traditional Persian house was laid with a set of several carpets. A large “middle carpet,” the mian farsh, went in the center.^[5] A kenareh ran down each long side, and a kellegi lay across the head of the room.^[2] That is why a kenareh is so long and narrow, and why a kellegi is long but much wider.

Today a kenareh is a hall runner. Our post on choosing the right runner length covers how long yours should be.

Long burgundy Hamedan runner with an ivory border along steel windows in a brick loft, beside a cushioned oak bench and leather armchair — A Hamedan runner, 3 feet 5 inches by 10 feet 9 inches (105 by 327 cm), laid along a row of windows. It has the long, narrow shape of a kenareh, made to run along the side of a room.

The old names beside today’s rug sizes

Set the traditional names next to the labels used today and they line up fairly well.

A poshti is a 2 by 3. A small Bijar mat is a classic example, and the Bijar guide explains why the dense weave suits that size.
A zarcharak is a 2 by 4.
A zaronim is a 3 by 5.
A dozar is a 4 by 6 or a 4 by 7.
A kenareh is a 3 by 10 or a longer runner.
In shape, a kellegi is closest to a 5 by 10.
A ghali is anything from a 7 by 10 up.

Deep red Persian Zanjan rug with gray stepped medallions on a flagstone entrance hall floor, seen from the stairs — A Zanjan, 4 feet 3 inches by 6 feet 7 inches (130 by 200 cm), inside a front door. It matches the dozar of the old size charts almost exactly, and today it would be called a 4 by 7.

Rugs that fit none of the names

Plenty of rugs sit between the names. The most common in-between size is about 5 to 6 feet wide and 8 to 10 feet long. That is wider than a dozar and too narrow for a ghali. Most rugs in that size are Turkish, largely from Isparta and Manisa. That makes sense, because the Persian names were never meant to describe Turkish rugs. If that size suits your room, the Isparta guide is a good place to start.

Why a true 8 by 10 Persian rug is rare

Many room-size Persian rugs were woven to round metric sizes: 2 by 3 meters, 2½ by 3½ meters or 3 by 4 meters. Very few land on round feet. So a 2 by 3 meter rug, which is 6 feet 7 inches by 9 feet 10 inches, gets listed as a 7 by 10. A 2½ by 3½ meter rug becomes an 8 by 11 or 8 by 12, and a 3 by 4 meter rug becomes a 10 by 13. Our rug sizes in centimeters chart converts more metric sizes to feet.

The two sizes most American living rooms are planned around, 8 by 10 and 9 by 12, were not the sizes these rugs were made in. If you are choosing between those two, our post on 8x10 vs 9x12 shows which nearby vintage sizes work instead.

Green-walled prewar living room with a camel sofa, two cane armchairs and a walnut coffee table on a red and purple Tabriz rug — A Tabriz, 6 feet 7 inches by 9 feet 11 inches (200 by 303 cm). It was woven as a 2 by 3 meter rug, and in feet it goes by the name 7 by 10.

How to use the names when you shop

The names tell you a rug’s shape and job at a glance. A poshti goes beside a bed or inside a door, a kenareh goes down a hall, and a ghali goes under a seating group. What they cannot tell you is whether a rug fits. Two rugs sold as a dozar can differ by several inches each way, and so can two rugs in the same size collection.

So measure the space first, then check the rug’s own measurements. Every rug we list gives its exact width and length in feet, inches and centimeters. For the method room by room, read how to choose the right rug size. The size guide converts the standard sizes, and rugs by size lists every size collection.