“nasty” in Arabic dialects
adjective
How do you say nasty across the major spoken Arabic dialects? Compare nasty (adjective) sense by sense across 5 dialects — Egyptian, Levantine, Gulf, Iraqi, Maghrebi — with English meaning, native script, transliteration and usage.
What does “nasty” mean?
adjective
- Offensive or even (of persons) malicious; ; ; ; ; ; - Ezra Pound“in a nasty mood”
- Exasperatingly difficult to handle or circumvent“a nasty problem”
- Characterized by obscenity“had a filthy mouth”
English definitions from Princeton WordNet.
Quick comparison across dialects
| Dialect | Arabic (nasty) | Transliteration |
|---|---|---|
| Egyptian Arabic | مقرف | muʾrif |
| Levantine Arabic | بشع | bisheʿ |
| Gulf Arabic | خبيث | khabīth |
| Iraqi Arabic | خبيث | khabīth |
| Maghrebi Arabic | خايب | khayeb |
Full breakdown by dialect
Egyptian Arabic
| Word (Arabic) | Transliteration | English sense / usage |
|---|---|---|
| مقرف | muʾrif | disgusting, nasty |
| وحش | wiḥish | bad, nasty |
| لئيم | laʾīm | mean, malicious, nasty (person) |
Levantine Arabic
| Word (Arabic) | Transliteration | English sense / usage |
|---|---|---|
| بشع | bisheʿ | nasty, ugly, unpleasant |
| مقرف | muʾrif | disgusting, nasty |
| لئيم | laʾīm | mean, malicious, nasty (of a person) |
Gulf Arabic
| Word (Arabic) | Transliteration | English sense / usage |
|---|---|---|
| خبيث | khabīth | nasty, malicious, mean |
| لئيم | laʾīm | nasty, mean-spirited |
| كريه | karīh | nasty, disgusting, repulsive (smell, person) |
| يلوع الجبد | ylawwiʿ al-chabd | nauseating, stomach-churning (lit. 'twists the liver') |
Iraqi Arabic
| Word (Arabic) | Transliteration | English sense / usage |
|---|---|---|
| خبيث | khabīth | malicious, spiteful, mean |
| وصخ | wiṣikh | very dirty, filthy, disgusting |
| نذل | nadhil | despicable, mean-spirited |
Maghrebi Arabic
| Word (Arabic) | Transliteration | English sense / usage |
|---|---|---|
| خايب | khayeb | nasty, bad, ugly |
| قبيح | qbīḥ | nasty, mean (person) |
| صامط | ṣāmeṭ | nasty, unpleasant, annoying (person, Algerian) |
| خانز | khanz | nasty, rotten, stinking (smell) |
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