What it means
رادیودرمانی (râdio-darmâni) is the clinical term for radiotherapy, the medical treatment that uses ionising radiation to destroy or shrink cancerous tumours. The compound is a hybrid: râdio is borrowed from English and French (ultimately from Latin radius), while darmâni is a native Persian adjective derived from darmân (cure, treatment). In formal hospital and oncology contexts it is used interchangeably with the borrowed form رادیوتراپی (râdiotherâpi). A close synonym is پرتودرمانی (parto-darmâni), where parto is the fully Persian word for ray or beam, preferred in more formal scientific writing.
How to use it
- پزشک گفت که رادیودرمانی لازمه. (pezeshk goft ke râdio-darmâni lâzeme.) “The doctor said radiotherapy is necessary.”
- بعد از جراحی، رادیودرمانی شروع شد. (ba’d az jarâhi, râdio-darmâni shoru’ shod.) “After the surgery, radiotherapy began.”
- چند جلسه رادیودرمانی داری؟ (chand jalase râdio-darmâni dâri?) “How many radiotherapy sessions do you have?”
- رادیودرمانی عوارض خاص خودشو داره. (râdio-darmâni avârez-e khâss-e khodesho dâre.) “Radiotherapy has its own specific side effects.”
Cultural note
Iran operates several radiotherapy centres attached to major university hospitals, including Imam Khomeini Hospital in Tehran and Namazi Hospital in Shiraz. The existence of a parallel fully Persian compound, پرتودرمانی, reflects a long-running effort in Iran to replace European loanwords in medical terminology with native Persian equivalents, promoted by the Academy of Persian Language and Literature. Patients and families in everyday conversation tend to use râdio-darmâni or simply râdiotherâpi, while official health ministry documents often prefer parto-darmâni.