What it means
ریه (riye) is an Arabic loanword for lung, the organ responsible for breathing. It is the standard term in medical Persian, journalism, and formal writing. The native Persian word for lung is شش (shosh), which is older and still widely used in colloquial and everyday speech: a doctor may write ریه in a chart while the patient says شش at home. The distinction is real and worth knowing: شش also means “six” in Persian (شش، six), making it a homophone with a number, which may partly explain why the Arabic borrowing ریه became dominant in formal registers. The plural ریهها (riye-hâ) or the dual construction دو ریه (do riye, two lungs) are standard in clinical contexts.
How to use it
- سیگار به ریهها آسیب میزنه. (sigâr be riye-hâ âsib mi-zane.) “Cigarettes damage the lungs.”
- ریههاش درست کار نمیکنه. (riye-hâsh dorost kâr nemi-kone.) “His lungs aren’t working properly.”
- پزشک گفت سرطان ریه داره. (pezeshk goft saratân-e riye dâre.) “The doctor said he has lung cancer.”
- ظرفیت ریویات خوبه. (zarfiyat-e riyavi-at khube.) “Your lung capacity is good.”
Cultural note
Lung disease, particularly tuberculosis (سل, sel) and more recently lung cancer linked to smoking and air pollution, has been a significant public health issue in Iran. Tehran’s chronic air pollution has made ریه a word that appears regularly in news headlines, and awareness campaigns about pollution-related lung damage are common. The coexistence of ریه and شش as synonyms is a good example of the Arabic-Persian diglossia that runs through much of the language.