What it means
اسکله (eskele) means pier, jetty, or dock, a fixed structure projecting into a body of water that allows boats and ships to pull alongside and load or unload passengers and cargo. The word came into Persian from Ottoman Turkish iskele, which was borrowed from Italian scala (meaning “ladder” or “staircase”), reflecting the stepped or ramped structures used as landing stages in Mediterranean and Black Sea ports. In Iranian usage اسکله can refer to a ferry terminal, a fishing pier, or a commercial cargo dock. A related term is بارانداز (bârândâz), which refers specifically to a cargo loading and unloading wharf.
How to use it
- قایقها کنار اسکله لنگر انداختن. (ghâyeqhâ kenâr-e eskele langar andâkhtan.) “The boats have anchored alongside the pier.”
- کجا باید بریم اسکله کشتی؟ (kojâ bâyad berim eskele-ye kashti?) “Where do we need to go for the ship’s dock?”
- اسکله بندر انزلی هر روز شلوغه. (eskele-ye Bandar Anzali har ruz sholuqhe.) “The pier at Bandar Anzali is busy every day.”
- مسافرا روی اسکله منتظر بودن. (mosâferâ ruye eskele montazer budan.) “The passengers were waiting on the pier.”
Cultural note
The word اسکله reflects the centuries of contact between the Persian-speaking world and the Ottoman Empire, during which many nautical and architectural terms passed from Mediterranean languages into Ottoman Turkish and then into Persian. Iran’s Caspian port towns such as Bandar Anzali and Ramsar have prominent اسکله structures used by ferry services and fishing fleets. On the Persian Gulf, پل اسکله (pol-e eskele) refers to the jetty-style piers that serve ferry crossings to islands like Qeshm, Kish, and Hormuz.