What it means
چک برگشتی (chek-e bargashti) means a bounced or returned cheque: a cheque that a bank has refused to honor, typically because the account has insufficient funds. The compound joins چک (chek), borrowed from English “cheque,” with برگشتی (bargashti), a pure-Persian adjective from the verb برگشتن (bargashtan, “to return”). The literal meaning is “a returned cheque,” which is precisely how Iranian banks describe the instrument when they send it back to the depositor unpaid. There is no synonymous term in common use: چک برگشتی is the standard phrase in both legal documents and everyday speech.
How to use it
- چک برگشتی خورد، حسابم بلوک شد. (Chek-e bargashti khord, hesâbam blok shod.) “The cheque bounced and my account was blocked.”
- سه تا چک برگشتی داره. (Se tâ chek-e bargashti dâre.) “He has three bounced cheques on record.”
- چک برگشتی جرم حساب میشه. (Chek-e bargashti jorm hesâb mishe.) “A bounced cheque is considered a criminal offence.”
- ازش چک نگیر، سابقه برگشتی داره. (Azesh chek nagir, sâbeqe-ye bargashti dâre.) “Don’t take a cheque from him, he has a history of bounced cheques.”
Cultural note
In Iran, issuing a چک برگشتی is a serious legal offence under the Commercial Code. A person with unpaid returned cheques can face account restrictions, travel bans, and criminal prosecution. The Judiciary maintains a public registry of returned cheques, and having one on record can damage creditworthiness and personal reputation in ways that affect housing, business, and social trust. Because cheques are widely used as deferred payment instruments in Iranian commerce, the bounced cheque problem is common enough that Iranians treat the phrase چک برگشتی with genuine wariness. Checking a business partner’s cheque history before accepting payment is considered prudent, not rude.