Why “sigheh” is a great word
SIGHEH — [Noun] A time-bound, contractual form of marriage recognized under Iranian civil law, its duration and terms stipulated in advance. From Iranian Persian صیغه (siġe), from Classical Persian صیغه (sīġa), from Arabic صِيغَة (ṣīḡa, "form, formula"). Unlike nikah, which establishes a permanent domestic covenant, or the theological Arabic mut'ah, sigheh is its specific, bureaucratized Persian instrument. It is the notary's crisp stamp on a document specifying months, the calendar date circled as an expiration, and the relationship rendered into a leasehold agreement of the heart—a formalization of the provisional, a formula that makes intimacy a term leasehold.