به‌خیر

What it means

به‌خیر (be-kheyr) is built from the preposition به (be, to or with) and the Arabic-origin noun خیر (kheyr, goodness, benefit, or good fortune). Together they form a fixed adverbial phrase meaning with goodness, safely, or in a good way. The phrase is used in two related senses. The first is descriptive: به‌خیر گذشت (be-kheyr gozasht) means it passed safely or it went well, and به‌خیر رفت (be-kheyr raft) means he left without incident. The second sense is prescriptive or wishful: به‌خیر بگذره (be-kheyr bogzare) means may it pass safely, a kind of spoken wish that an uncertain event resolves well. In a dryer, ironic register, به‌خیر رفت can also signal relief at someone’s departure, close in feeling to good riddance, though the word itself is not rude; the irony lives entirely in the speaker’s tone.

How to use it

• به‌خیر گذشت (be-kheyr gozasht) “It passed without trouble.”
• به‌خیر رفتن (be-kheyr raftan) “They left safely.” or (ironically) “Good, they are gone.”
• ایشالا به‌خیر بگذره (inshallâ be-kheyr bogzare) “God willing it will pass safely.”
• به‌خیر و خوشی برگشتن (be-kheyr-o khoshi bargashtand) “They came back safe and happy.”

Cultural note

به‌خیر belongs to a family of short Persian phrases built around خیر (kheyr, goodness) and شر (shar, evil or harm) that map the everyday moral arithmetic of daily events. Phrases like خیرش رو نمیبینی (kheyresh ro nemibini, you will see no good from it) or شر شد (shar shod, it turned bad) treat outcomes as carrying an intrinsic moral charge. Be-kheyr is the hopeful side of that ledger: the wish or confirmation that things went toward goodness rather than harm. This framing is embedded in Persian conversational culture and appears naturally in prayers, farewells, and post-event recounting.

References

• Dehkhoda
• Vajehyab