Arabic Slang: Egyptian (Masri مصري) vs. Gulf (Khaleeji خليجي)
By: Safa M. Qureshi/Arab America Contributing Writer
For non-Arabs, Arabic can be a difficult or even extremely complicated language to learn. But that’s why we’re here! Arab America has come up with a list of some of the most basic and useful slang words. Not only will we provide slang words in the standard Arabic dialect, but we will also include the Masri (Egyptian) as well as the Khaleeji (Gulf Arabian) dialects.
Let’s start with some basic slang words in standard Arabic.
Standard Arabic Slang
1. Yallah/ يلا
This means “let’s go” and is used when you want something to happen or when you want someone to get moving. People will use the word yallah for everything, from getting stuck in traffic to getting people on the dance floor.
2. Khalas / خلص
This word means “to finish,” but can also mean many other things such as: “stop it/stop talking”, or “it’s over”. It’s the perfect word to use when you just want someone to drop the subject matter or to simply stop nagging.
3. Wallah / والله
This word will most likely pop-up in conversation more than any other word. Wallah means “I swear to God”, and can be used in any part of a sentence. It is also used to ask somebody to swear to God when you are in disbelief or simply do not believe them. In this case, you would say, “Wallah?”
4. Ya Haraam / يا حرام
The word “haraam” originally means “a sin”, but is used as slang to mean something along the lines of “Aww, poor thing.”
5. Yaani / يعني
This word means ‘like’ or ‘it’s like’. For example, you can say: “I like him, but yaani it’s too soon to judge”. To tweak it up a bit, you can write it in Arabizi, i.e., the cooler way.; yaani can also be written as “ya3ni.”
Egyptian (Masri) Arabic Slang
1. Ahlan / أهلا – Hello/Welcome
2. Ezzayak (M) or Ezzayik (F) / ازيَّك or ازَيِّك – How are you?
3. Kwayyis / كويس – Fine (-in response to “How are you?”)
4. Mashy or Maashi / ماشي – OK or fine
5. Eh dah / إيه دة – What’s this?
5aleeji or Khaleeji (Gulf) Arabic Slang
1. Halaa / هلا – Hi
2. Shlo-nik / شلونك – How are you?
3. Esh ekhbaarik / ايش اخبارك – What’s up?
4. Bikheir / بـخيـر – Fine or good (in response to how are you)
5. Esh haaza / ايش هذا – What’s this?
… And if you’ve made it this far, congratulations! You get access to an extra word and get to know the history behind it.
** Chub / چب
Chub comes from the Urdu word to ‘shut up’, for lack of a better word. Since there is no letter ‘p’ in Arabic, the ‘p’ has been changed to a ‘b’. So while in Urdu the word is chup, in Khaleeji Arabic the word is chub. This word is one of many that has been adopted from Urdu into the Khaleeji dialect as a result of the large number of people from India and Pakistan that reside in the Gulf Arab states.
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