“bad” in Arabic dialects
adjective
How do you say bad across the major spoken Arabic dialects? Compare bad (adjective) sense by sense across 5 dialects — Egyptian, Levantine, Gulf, Iraqi, Maghrebi — with English meaning, native script, transliteration and usage.
What does “bad” mean?
adjective
- Having undesirable or negative qualities“a bad report card”
- Very intense“a bad headache”
- Feeling physical discomfort or pain (`tough' is occasionally used colloquially for `bad')“my throat feels bad”
English definitions from Princeton WordNet.
Quick comparison across dialects
| Dialect | Arabic (bad) | Transliteration |
|---|---|---|
| Egyptian Arabic | وحش | weḥesh |
| Levantine Arabic | سيء | sayyeʾ |
| Gulf Arabic | مو زين | mō zēn |
| Iraqi Arabic | مو زين | mō zēn |
| Maghrebi Arabic | خايب | khayeb |
Full breakdown by dialect
Egyptian Arabic
| Word (Arabic) | Transliteration | English sense / usage |
|---|---|---|
| وحش | weḥesh | not good, of poor quality |
| شرير | shirīr | evil, morally wrong |
| بايظ | bāyeẓ | spoiled, rotten (for food) |
Levantine Arabic
| Word (Arabic) | Transliteration | English sense / usage |
|---|---|---|
| سيء | sayyeʾ | bad, of poor quality |
| عاطِل | ʿāṭel | bad, not good (esp. Pal/Jor) |
| مش منيح | mesh mnīḥ | not good (esp. Leb/Syr) |
Gulf Arabic
| Word (Arabic) | Transliteration | English sense / usage |
|---|---|---|
| مو زين | mō zēn | not good, bad |
| شين | shēn | bad, ugly (opposite of zēn) |
| خربان | kharbān | broken, spoiled, gone bad (for things/food) |
Iraqi Arabic
| Word (Arabic) | Transliteration | English sense / usage |
|---|---|---|
| مو زين | mō zēn | not good, of poor quality |
| سيء | sayyiʾ | bad (more formal) |
Maghrebi Arabic
| Word (Arabic) | Transliteration | English sense / usage |
|---|---|---|
| خايب | khayeb | not good, of poor quality (Moroccan/Tunisian) |
| ماشي مليح | mashi mliḥ | not good (Algerian) |
| عيان | ʿayyan | of poor quality, weak (Algerian) |
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