What it means
باجه (bâje) refers to a teller window, service counter, or enclosed booth where a clerk serves customers, most commonly inside a bank, post office, or government building. The etymology of the word is debated: the Dehkhoda dictionary records that some scholars derive it from a native Persian root related to an opening or recess, while the same word appears in Turkish with the meaning of window or wall opening. Whichever path it took into modern Persian, باجه is now fully naturalized. In a bank, each numbered window where a teller sits is a باجه. A close situational synonym is گیشه (gishe), which is more common in the context of ticket booths at cinemas, train stations, and bus terminals. Inside a bank, باجه is the expected term.
How to use it
- برو باجه شماره سه. (Baro bâje-ye shomâre-ye se.) “Go to window number three.”
- باجه صرافی کجاست؟ (Bâje-ye sarrâfi kojâst?) “Where is the currency exchange window?”
- باجه بستهست، برو پیش اون یکی. (Bâje baste-st, boro pish-e oun yeki.) “The window is closed, go to the other one.”
- نوبت باجه رو گرفتم. (Nowbat-e bâje ro gereftam.) “I took a number for the teller window.”
Cultural note
Iranian bank branches operate on a numbered-queue system: when you enter, you take a paper number from a machine, wait until your number appears on a screen, and then approach the relevant باجه. Different windows handle different tasks, such as deposits, withdrawals, and loan inquiries, so knowing which باجه to approach matters. The word also appears in post offices and government ministries, where the same partitioned-counter layout is standard. The queue system, called نوبت (nowbat), is taken seriously, and cutting the line is considered rude.