What it means
محکمه (mahkame) means a court of law or tribunal. It comes from Arabic, from the root ح-ک-م (h-k-m), the same root behind حکم (hokm, ruling or decree) and حاکم (hâkem, ruler). In Persian legal writing and classical literature you will find mahkame frequently, but in everyday spoken Farsi most people say دادگاه (dâdgâh), the native Persian compound meaning the place where justice is given. The two words are near-synonyms, though mahkame carries a more archaic and ceremonial weight. Think of mahkame as the equivalent of “tribunal” and dâdgâh as the plain word “court.”
How to use it
- پروندهاش به محکمه کشید. (parvande-ash be mahkame keshid.) “His case was taken to court.”
- محکمه رأی صادر کرد. (mahkame ra’y sâder kard.) “The court issued a verdict.”
- وکیلم گفت جلسه محکمه فردا صبحه. (vakilam goft jalase-ye mahkame fardâ sobhe.) “My lawyer said the court session is tomorrow morning.”
- این محکمه صلاحیت رسیدگی به این پرونده رو داره. (in mahkame salâhiyyat-e rasidegi be in parvande ro dâre.) “This tribunal has jurisdiction over this case.”
Cultural note
In Iran’s current judicial system, the word دادگاه (dâdgâh) dominates official usage for most court types, such as دادگاه انقلاب (dâdgâh-e enqelâb, Revolutionary Court) or دادگاه عمومی (dâdgâh-e omumi, General Court). محکمه (mahkame) survives in older legal texts, in references to religious courts, and in the phrase محکمه صالحه (mahkame-ye sâlehe, competent court), which still appears in formal contracts and constitutional language. For a Farsi learner, recognising mahkame in historical documents and classical Persian literature is genuinely useful even if you would never use it in casual conversation.