What it means
درمان (darmân) means treatment or cure. It is a native Persian word with roots in Old Iranian, not borrowed from Arabic or any other language. It covers the full process of treating an illness: the course of therapy, the act of healing, or the cure itself. A close related word is دارو (dâru), which refers specifically to medicine or a drug. درمان is broader: it can mean the treatment plan, the recovery, or the remedy. In emotional and figurative speech, درمان is also used for anything that relieves suffering, such as درمان دل (darmân-e del), a cure for heartache.
How to use it
- دکتر گفت درمانت سه هفته طول میکشه. (Doktor goft darmânat se hafte tul mikeshe.) “The doctor said your treatment will take three weeks.”
- این درد درمان نداره. (In dard darmân nadâre.) “This pain has no cure.”
- درمان زخمهاش خیلی وقت برد. (Darmân-e zakhm-hâsh kheyli vaqt bord.) “Healing her wounds took a very long time.”
- رفت پیش دندونپزشک برای درمان ریشه. (Raft pish-e dandânpezeshk barâye darmân-e rishe.) “She went to the dentist for root canal treatment.”
Cultural note
In Iranian culture, the concept of درمان carries weight beyond the clinical. Traditional Persian medicine, influenced by Avicenna’s Canon of Medicine, used the word to describe holistic treatment of the body and spirit together. Today, Iranians commonly distinguish between دارو (medication) and درمان (the full course of care), and a doctor who achieves a real cure is said to درمان کرد (darmân kard), treated or cured. The word also appears in mental health contexts with increasing frequency as public awareness around رواندرمانی (ravân-darmâni, psychotherapy) grows in Iran.