عجله

What it means

عجله (ajale) means hurry, haste, or urgency. The word is borrowed from Arabic, where the root Ain-J-L carries the sense of being hasty or moving quickly. In Persian it is used almost exclusively as a noun within compound verb phrases: عجله داشتن (ajale dâshtan, to be in a hurry), عجله کردن (ajale kardan, to hurry or rush). The opposite state is حوصله داشتن (howsele dâshtan, to be patient or to have the patience for something). A close synonym is شتاب (shetâb, speed or haste), which is slightly more formal and appears more often in written Persian. In everyday speech عجله is the natural, colloquial choice. The adjective form عجول (ajul, hasty or impulsive) describes a person who always rushes.

How to use it

• عجله دارم، باید برم (ajale dâram, bâyad beram) “I am in a hurry, I have to go.”
• عجله نکن، وقت داریم (ajale nakan, vaght dârim) “Don’t rush, we have time.”
• چرا اینقدر عجله داری؟ (cherâ inghadr ajale dâri?) “Why are you in such a hurry?”
• با عجله از خونه رفتم بیرون (bâ ajale az khune raftam birun) “I left the house in a rush.”

Cultural note

There is a well-known Persian proverb: عجله کار شیطانه (ajale kâr-e sheytâne), meaning haste is the devil’s work. The saying reflects a cultural value placed on deliberateness and composure, a counterweight to the actual pace of life in busy Iranian cities where traffic, queues, and deadlines produce plenty of عجله in practice. The proverb is often quoted by older Iranians to younger ones who are rushing into a decision, and it carries genuine moral weight, connecting impatience not just to poor outcomes but to a lack of character.

References

• Dehkhoda
• Vajehyab