“worst” in Arabic dialects
adjectivenoun
How do you say worst across the major spoken Arabic dialects? Compare worst (adjective, noun) sense by sense across 5 dialects — Egyptian, Levantine, Gulf, Iraqi, Maghrebi — with English meaning, native script, transliteration and usage.
What does “worst” mean?
adjective
- (superlative of `bad') most wanting in quality or value or condition“the worst player on the team”
- Having undesirable or negative qualities“a bad report card”
- Very intense“a bad headache”
noun
- The least favorable outcome“the worst that could happen”
- The greatest damage or wickedness of which one is capable“the invaders did their worst”
- The weakest effort or poorest achievement one is capable of“it was the worst he had ever done on a test”
English definitions from Princeton WordNet.
Quick comparison across dialects
| Dialect | Arabic (worst) | Transliteration |
|---|---|---|
| Egyptian Arabic | أسوأ حاجة | aswaʾ ḥāga |
| Levantine Arabic | الأسوأ | al-aswaʾ |
| Gulf Arabic | الأسوأ | al-aswaʾ |
| Iraqi Arabic | أسوأ | aswaʾ |
| Maghrebi Arabic | أخيب حاجة | akhyab ḥāja |
Full breakdown by dialect
Egyptian Arabic
| Word (Arabic) | Transliteration | English sense / usage |
|---|---|---|
| أسوأ حاجة | aswaʾ ḥāga | the most unpleasant thing or part |
| أوحش حاجة | awḥash ḥāga | the most unpleasant thing or part |
| أوحش | awḥash | most bad, of the lowest quality |
Levantine Arabic
| Word (Arabic) | Transliteration | English sense / usage |
|---|---|---|
| الأسوأ | al-aswaʾ | the worst thing or part |
| الأَسْوَأ | al-ʾaswaʾ | the most bad or poor quality |
| الأَبْشَع | al-ʾabshaʿ | the worst (lit. 'the ugliest') |
Gulf Arabic
| Word (Arabic) | Transliteration | English sense / usage |
|---|---|---|
| الأسوأ | al-aswaʾ | the worst thing or part |
| أَسْوَأ | aswaʾ | the most bad, the lowest quality |
| أَخْيَس | akhyas | the most disgusting, the absolute worst (informal) |
| أَرْدَى | arda | the worst quality, the most inferior |
Iraqi Arabic
| Word (Arabic) | Transliteration | English sense / usage |
|---|---|---|
| أسوأ | aswaʾ | the worst thing or part |
| أخيس شي | akhyas shay | the worst thing (very colloquial) |
| الأسوأ | al-aswaʾ | the worst |
| أردى | arda | the worst (colloquial) |
| أخس | akhass | the worst, most vile |
Maghrebi Arabic
| Word (Arabic) | Transliteration | English sense / usage |
|---|---|---|
| أخيب حاجة | akhyab ḥāja | the worst thing or part |
| أكفس حاجة | akfas ḥāja | the worst thing (alternative) |
| أخيب | akhyab | the most bad, the worst |
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.