Learn Farsi: خبرنگار مشهور دیروز مفقود شد. - The famous reporter went missing yesterday.

It perfectly follows the ma-C1-C2-u-C3 pattern. The three root letters are ش-ه-ر (sh-h-r), which relate to revealing or making something known. As a passive participle, مشهور literally means "that which is made known," which translates smoothly into English as "famous."

I noticed مفقود (missing) sounds similar in structure to مشهور. Is it the same pattern?

Yes, it uses the exact same pattern! Its three-letter Arabic root is ف-ق-د (f-q-d), which means to lose or lack. So مفقود literally means "lost" or "the one who is lost."

Why do we say مفقود شد using شد (became) instead of a simple past tense verb?

Farsi heavily uses compound verbs for concepts that are single verbs in English. Here, the Arabic passive participle مفقود (lost) pairs with شدن (to become) to create the action "to go missing." Using شد (became) focuses on the transition of getting lost yesterday, whereas using بود (was) would just describe their state of being missing.

Can you break down how the Farsi word for reporter, خبرنگار, is built?

It combines خبر (news) with نگار (the present stem of the verb نگاشتن, which means to write or depict). This combination is a very common way to create job titles or descriptors in Farsi, literally making a reporter a "news-writer."