What it means
کارت (kart) is borrowed from French “carte” (and reinforced by English “card”). In everyday Persian it refers most commonly to a bank card, debit card, or credit card, though it also covers business cards, membership cards, and identity documents. The full phrase for a bank card is کارت بانکی (kart-e bānki) and for a credit card is کارت اعتباری (kart-e e’tebāri). Older native equivalents like برگه (barge) or ورقه (varaqe) exist but are rarely used for plastic payment cards. The plural is کارتها (kart-hā).
How to use it
- کارتم رو جا گذاشتم. (kārtam ro jā gozāshtam.) “I left my card behind.”
- میتونم با کارت بپردازم؟ (mitoonam bā kart bepardāzam?) “Can I pay by card?”
- کارت بانکیم قفل شده. (kart-e bānki-am ghofl shode.) “My bank card is locked.”
- یه کارت ویزیت داری؟ (ye kart-e vizit dāri?) “Do you have a business card?”
Cultural note
Iran operates its own domestic interbank network called شتاب (Shetāb), which connects all Iranian banks and allows cardholders to use ATMs and point-of-sale terminals across the country. Because international sanctions have cut Iranian banks off from Visa and Mastercard, کارت in Iran always means a domestic Shetāb card rather than an internationally recognized card. Iranians traveling abroad must carry cash or use informal currency channels, which gives the word کارت a meaning slightly narrower than its European counterpart.