What it means
بدرود (bedrud) means “goodbye” or “farewell,” composed of be (to) plus drud (greeting, salute). It is the Pure Persian alternative to the everyday خداحافظ.
How to use it
- بدرود دوستان (bedrud dustân) “Farewell, friends”
- تا دیدار بعد، بدرود (tâ didâr-e ba’d, bedrud) “Until next time, farewell”
- بدرود برای همیشه (bedrud barâye hamishe) “Goodbye forever”
Pair
The everyday counterpart is خداحافظ (khodâhâfez), “may God protect you,” Arabic in origin and the default goodbye across Iran. بدرود belongs to the Pure Persian Movement (نهضت پارسیگرایی), a reformist current that grew under the Pahlavi era and continues today, which prefers Indigenous Persian roots over Arabic loanwords. Speakers who favor it use بدرود in writing, broadcasts, and stylized speech; خداحافظ remains the spoken default.
Cultural note
You’ll see بدرود at the end of formal essays, in the credits of Persian films, and on signs at Indigenous-Persian-leaning websites. In casual conversation it can sound bookish, even pretentious, unless the speaker is signaling pride in pre-Islamic Persian heritage. The Pahlavi-era Farhangestan (Academy of Persian Language) revived many such terms, and بدرود is among the most recognized.
References
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