What it means
اورژانس (orzhâns) is the Persian word for the emergency room of a hospital, and by extension for the national emergency medical services and ambulance system. The word is borrowed from French urgence (urgency, emergency), and Persian adapted it phonetically: the French stress pattern shifted, the final e disappeared, and the zh sound of the French j was preserved. The written form اورژانس closely tracks the French pronunciation. In speech the word covers the hospital emergency department (بخش اورژانس, bakhsh-e orzhâns), the emergency medical call number (115 in Iran, known simply as orzhâns), and the ambulance itself. There is no native Persian word that competes with it in everyday use.
How to use it
- ببرش اورژانس (bebaresh orzhâns) “Take him to the ER”
- اورژانس زنگ زدیم (orzhâns zang zadim) “We called an ambulance”
- اورژانس بخیه زد (orzhâns bakhiye zad) “The ER stitched it up”
- منتظرم تو اورژانسم (montazeram tu orzhânsam) “I’m waiting in the ER”
Cultural note
In Iran, اورژانس refers both to the hospital department and to the emergency services number 115, which dispatches ambulances and paramedic crews. Hospitals in larger cities have separate trauma bays and triage systems, but in smaller towns the single emergency room handles everything from road accidents to childbirth complications. It is common for families to accompany a patient to the ER and remain in the waiting area throughout, and a visit to the اورژانس often turns into a collective family event. The word is also used informally for any urgent situation: گیر اورژانسی افتادم (gir-e orzhânsi oftâdam, I got caught in an urgent matter) is natural spoken Persian.