“bother” in Arabic dialects
verb
How do you say bother across the major spoken Arabic dialects? Compare bother (verb) sense by sense across 5 dialects — Egyptian, Levantine, Gulf, Iraqi, Maghrebi — with English meaning, native script, transliteration and usage.
What does “bother” mean?
verb
- Take the trouble to do something; concern oneself“He did not trouble to call his mother on her birthday”
- Cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations“Mosquitoes buzzing in my ear really bothers me”
- To cause inconvenience or discomfort to“Sorry to trouble you, but...”
English definitions from Princeton WordNet.
Quick comparison across dialects
| Dialect | Arabic (bother) | Transliteration |
|---|---|---|
| Egyptian Arabic | ضايق | ḍāyeʾ |
| Levantine Arabic | أزعج | azʿaj |
| Gulf Arabic | أَزْعَج | azʿaj |
| Iraqi Arabic | يزعج | yizʿij |
| Maghrebi Arabic | صَدَّع | ṣaddaʿ |
Full breakdown by dialect
Egyptian Arabic
| Word (Arabic) | Transliteration | English sense / usage |
|---|---|---|
| ضايق | ḍāyeʾ | to annoy or disturb someone |
| تعب نفسه | teʿeb nafso | to make the effort to do something |
Levantine Arabic
| Word (Arabic) | Transliteration | English sense / usage |
|---|---|---|
| أزعج | azʿaj | to annoy, to disturb |
| غلّب حاله | ghallab ḥālo | to take the trouble, to make an effort |
Gulf Arabic
| Word (Arabic) | Transliteration | English sense / usage |
|---|---|---|
| أَزْعَج | azʿaj | to annoy or disturb someone |
| كَلَّف عَلَى نَفْسَه | kallaf ʿala nafsah | to make an effort to do something |
Iraqi Arabic
| Word (Arabic) | Transliteration | English sense / usage |
|---|---|---|
| يزعج | yizʿij | to annoy or disturb someone |
| يهتم | yihtamm | to take the trouble to do something |
Maghrebi Arabic
| Word (Arabic) | Transliteration | English sense / usage |
|---|---|---|
| صَدَّع | ṣaddaʿ | to annoy, to give a headache (Morocco/Algeria) |
| بَرْزَط | barzaṭ | to pester, to annoy |
| قَلَّق | qallaq | to annoy, to worry (Tunisia/E. Algeria) |
Need a custom bilingual dictionary built?
We build sense-tagged dictionaries and word lists across languages and dialects for publishers, app makers and localization teams — to your spec, in CSV, XLSX or print-ready formats.