جیب (jib) is the pocket on your trousers, jacket, or coat. In Persian, it is also where money lives, gets stolen, and gets paid out from.
What it actually means
جیب means pocket: the sewn pouch in a piece of clothing. The word is a direct Arabic loanword (Arabic جيب, jayb) that long ago settled into everyday Persian. The Arabic root once meant “opening at the neck, breast,” and from there “a pouch, a fold,” and from there the modern garment pocket sense that Persian uses today. Iranians say جیب for any pocket: front pocket, back pocket, inside pocket of a coat, the small zip pocket of a backpack. The word also appears in compounds and idioms tied to money, theft, and personal expense, because that is where pockets live in real life.
How to say it
Formal
jib
“pocket”
جیب
Colloquial (Tehrani)
jib
unchanged; one syllable, long i
جیب
One syllable, identical in writing and speech. Pronounced like English “jeeb.”
How to use it
- دستت را از جیبت دربیار. · dast-et râ az jib-et dar biyâr. · Take your hand out of your pocket.
- از جیب خودم دادم. · az jib-e khod-am dâdam. · I paid for it out of my own pocket.
- مواظب باش، اینجا جیببر زیاده. · movâzeb bâsh, injâ jib-bor ziyâd-e. · Be careful, there are a lot of pickpockets here.
Common pairings
- جیببر (jib-bor) “pickpocket” (literally: pocket-cutter)
- از جیب خوردن (az jib khordan) “to pay out of pocket”
- جیب خالی (jib-e khâli) “empty pocket” = broke
- جیب پر (jib-e por) “full pocket” = flush, well-off
Cultural note
جیب-بر (jib-bor) is the Persian for pickpocket, built from جیب “pocket” and بر “cutter, slicer,” a literal compound that paints the historical method: a quick blade slicing the seam of a pocket in a crowded bazaar. The word still gets used the same way in modern Tehran metro warnings and Grand Bazaar travel advice. The phrase از جیب خوردن (az jib khordan) “to be eaten from the pocket” is the standard way Iranians describe paying for something out of personal funds, especially when somebody else should have covered it. The same metaphor English uses, “out of pocket,” Persian builds on the verb “to eat.” The pocket is the body’s small treasury.
Related
You’ll see this word together with کیف (kif) “bag, wallet” and شلوار (shalvâr) “trousers.” For more on Persian money idioms, browse our Vocabulary section.
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