What it means
بدرقه کردن (badraqe-kardan) is the verb for performing badraqe, the Iranian farewell ritual. To badraqe someone is to escort them out, to accompany them from inside the home through the door to the car or the gate, to wave them off until they are gone. The verb implies the full choreography, not just saying goodbye.
You badraqe a guest. You badraqe a relative going to the airport. You badraqe a friend leaving the city. The bigger the departure, the more elaborate the badraqe.
Compound verb structure
Compound of بدرقه (badraqe, the farewell ritual) plus کردن (kardan, to do). Kardan is the most productive light verb in Persian, attaching to nouns to form active verbs: کار کردن (kar-kardan, to work), گریه کردن (gerye-kardan, to cry). Here it follows the same pattern: to do badraqe, meaning to perform the escort.
Conjugation: present mikonam (I do it), past kardam (I did it). The object marker -ash or a direct object often attaches: بدرقهاش کردم (badraqe-ash kardam, I saw him off).
How to use it
The verb is neutral, slightly formal in writing, casual in speech. It applies to short goodbyes (walking a friend to the gate) and to massive ones (the whole family driving to the airport for a relative emigrating). The intensity of the badraqe signals the importance of the parting.
Refusing to be badraqe-ed is a small taarof in itself: the guest says do not get up, the host insists, both perform the script.
Cultural pairing
The verb’s natural pair is pishvaz-raftan (to go meet an arrival). Together they form the welcome-farewell bracket that frames every Iranian visit. A host who pishvaz on arrival and badraqe on departure has done the full job. Skipping either one is noticed.
When the badraqe gets big
The full badraqe shows up when stakes are high: someone leaving the country, a soldier shipping out, a bride moving to her husband’s city, a body being carried to burial. In these cases the verb takes on weight beyond the everyday goodbye. Persian poetry and folk songs use baadraqe in this heavier sense, where the act of escorting carries grief or blessing or both.
Examples
maman ta forudgah baadraqe-am kard.
Mom saw me off all the way to the airport.
مامان تا فرودگاه بدرقهام کرد.
hatman miyam baadraqe-tun mikonam.
I’ll definitely come see you off.
حتماً میام بدرقهتون میکنم.
References
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