What it means
کارت کشیدن (kârt keshidan) is the everyday colloquial phrase for paying by card at a point-of-sale terminal. It is a compound verb made of two parts: کارت (kârt), borrowed from English or French “card,” and کشیدن (keshidan), a pure Persian verb meaning to pull or draw. The image is literal: you draw the card through the reader. In practice it covers any card payment, whether a magnetic swipe on older terminals or a tap or chip insert on newer ones. The neutral, more formal alternative is پرداخت با کارت (pardâkht bâ kârt, payment by card), but کارت کشیدن is what people actually say.
How to use it
- میتونم کارت بکشم؟ (mitoonam kârt bekesham?) “Can I pay by card?”
- دستگاه خرابه، نمیشه کارت کشید. (dastgâh kharâbe, nemishe kârt keshid.) “The terminal is broken, you can’t swipe a card.”
- کارت کشیدم ولی پول کم داشتم. (kârt keshidam vali pul kam dâshtam.) “I tried to pay by card but didn’t have enough funds.”
- این مغازه کارت قبول میکنه، کارت بکش. (in maghâze kârt qabul mikone, kârt bekesh.) “This shop accepts cards, just swipe.”
Cultural note
Card payment terminals (دستگاه کارتخوان, dastgâh-e kârt-khân) became widespread in Iran during the 2010s as part of a government push to reduce the cash economy and increase tax visibility. Most urban businesses now have a terminal, and the phrase کارت بکش (kârt bekesh, swipe the card) is heard dozens of times a day in Tehran. International sanctions mean that Iranian bank cards do not work outside the country and foreign cards do not work inside, making the domestic card network entirely self-contained. Apps like Snapp Pay and Digipay have introduced QR-based payments, but the physical card remains dominant.