What it means
مرخصی (morakhasi) means leave or time off, typically from work or school. The word comes from Arabic, from the root ر-خ-ص (r-kh-s), related to رخصت (rokhsat), meaning permission or release. In Persian, the noun form مرخصی is so embedded in everyday speech that most speakers do not think of it as a borrowing. A close contrast is غیبت (gheybat), which refers to unexcused absence rather than approved leave.
How to use it
- میخوام یه هفته مرخصی بگیرم. (mikhâm ye hafte morakhasi begiram.) “I want to take a week off.”
- مرخصی سالانهام تموم شده. (morakhasi-ye sâlâne-am tamum shode.) “My annual leave is used up.”
- فردا مرخصی دارم. (fardâ morakhasi dâram.) “I have the day off tomorrow.”
- مرخصی استعلاجی گرفتم. (morakhasi-ye este’lâji gereftam.) “I took sick leave.”
Cultural note
Under Iranian labor law, employees in formal employment are entitled to roughly one month of paid annual leave, which Iranian workers commonly call مرخصی سالانه (morakhasi-ye sâlâne). Leave for illness, maternity, and religious observances is handled separately, each with its own term. In practice, workers in the informal sector often have no guaranteed leave at all, which makes مرخصی a word that carries very different weight depending on who is speaking.