What it means
قالیشویی (qali-shui) refers to a professional carpet-cleaning service, a shop or company that picks up, deep-cleans, and returns Persian rugs. The compound joins two parts: قالی (qali), meaning carpet, and شویی (shui), the Persian word for washing. The word قالی entered Persian through Turkic usage, while the شویی half is straightforwardly native Persian, from شستن (shostan), to wash.
How to use it
- قالیمون رو بردیم قالیشویی. (qali-moon ro bordim qali-shui.) “We took our carpet to the carpet-cleaning place.”
- قالیشویی سر کوچه قالی رو درجا میشوره. (qali-shui sar kuche qali ro dar-ja mishu-re.) “The carpet cleaner at the top of the alley washes rugs on the spot.”
- قیمت قالیشویی این روزا خیلی بالا رفته. (qeymat-e qali-shui in ruzha kheyli bala rafte.) “Carpet-cleaning prices have gone up a lot lately.”
- قبل از عید قالیا رو بردیم قالیشویی. (qabl az Eyd qalia ro bordim qali-shui.) “Before the New Year we took the carpets to the cleaner.”
Cultural note
Sending rugs to the قالیشویی before Nowruz, the Persian New Year, is a near-universal household ritual in Iran. Carpets are central to Iranian home life, spread across every room for sitting, dining, and receiving guests, so their care is taken seriously. Professional قالیشویی shops often hang cleaned carpets on long outdoor racks to dry in the sun, a familiar sight in residential neighborhoods across Iranian cities. The word also echoes a much older ceremony: the UNESCO-listed Qalishuyan ritual near Kashan, where a sacred carpet is ceremonially washed each year.