Moving on to our eighteenth letter of the Arabic alphabet (ع), we will look at various words beginning with (ع) along with more culture/language related facts.

Let’s begin with looking at your basic forms of the letter ع.

Initial عـ‎, as in the word “عَشَرة” meaning “ten”.

Medial ـعـ‎ ‍, as in the word “مُعَلِّم” meaning “teacher”.

Final ـع‎, as in the word “نَعْناع” meaning “mint”.

Before looking at the following words and phrases, can you think of words beginning with ع?

عادَ: to return  .عادَ إلى المَنزِل بَعد يوم طويل في العَمَل

He returned home after a long day at work.

عاشَ: to live   .عاشَت حياة وَحيدة  She lived a lonely life.

عال: high/loud .لا يُمكنني الوصول إلى الكتاب على الرَّف العالي

.صوت جيراننا عال جداً   Our neighbors are very loud.

I can’t reach the book on the high shelf.

عادِل: fair/just

عادِل إمام Adel Imam is a famous Egyptian actor مُمَثِّل, comedian كوميديان and director مُخْرِج. He’s known throughout the Arab world and is considered one of the biggest names in Arab cinema. Here is a link to a short clip of عادِل إمام talking about how he began his career in cinema and how he became successful ناجِح. You’ll be listening to him speak in Egyptian dialect with English subtitles. If you’re ever interested in watching any of his films, YouTube has many to choose from. 😊

عادل إمام

عالَم: world  .هو مُمَثِل مَشهور في العالم العربي

He is a famous actor in the Arab world.

عام: year/general  .تَخَرَجتُ العام الماضي مِن الجامِعة

Last year I graduated from university.

.بِشِكِل عام، أعتقد أن الدَرس كان مُفيداً

In general, I think the lesson was beneficial.

عَدَد: number/an amount

.كان هُناك عدد قليل مِن الناس الذين حَضروا الإجتماع

There was a small number of people who attended the meeting.

عَيْن: eye ما لَون عينيكِ؟  What color are your eyes?

عيد: holiday/festivity/celebration

🎇Here are holidays or celebrations that have the word عيد in them:

عيد الفِطر: Eid Al-fitr

عيد الأضحى: Eid Al-dha

عيد ميلاد: birthday

عيد الأم: Mother’s day

عيد الحُب: Valentines day

عادة: manner, practice, custom, habit, normally, typically

.الجيل الأصغر لا يَتبع العادات والتقاليد القديمة

The younger generation does not follow the old customs and traditions.

.أنا عادةً أشرب الشاي مع الإفطار

I normally drink tea with breakfast.

.التدخين عادة سَيئة   Smoking is a bad habit.

عَفْواً: your welcome/excuse me  عفواً، هل تتكلم الإنجليزية؟

Excuse me, do you speak English?

عِلْم: knowledge/science

🎇There is an Arabic saying العِلم نور meaning “knowledge is light” similar to the English saying, “knowledge is power”.

عَلَم: flag .العَلَم الأردني أحمر وأخضر وأسود وأبيض  The Jordanian flag is red, green, black, and white.

Note: عِلْم and عَلَم differ only in diacritics.

عَربيّ: relating to the Arabs or their language

There is a well-known Arabic poem called “سَجِّل أنا عربي” meaning “Record/Write down, I am an Arab” by the Palestinian national poet Mahmoud Darwish. Several of his poems reflect the Palestinian struggle النِضال الفلسطيني . It is a beautiful poem about a Palestinian man who is proud فَخور to be an Arab. Below are two links; the first is the poem written in Arabic and translated into English. The second link is Mahmoud Darwish himself reading his poem.

  English translation  سجل أنا عربي

سجل أنا عربي / للشاعر محمود درويش

العَربِيّة: the Arabic language  .أنا أتَعَلَم كيفَ أتكلم العَرَبية  I’m learning how to speak Arabic.

It’s easy to remember the words for wedding, bride and groom because they are similar variations. عُرْس: wedding, bride: عَروس and groom: عَريس

🎇Two Arab countries that begin with ع are: العراق: Iraq and عُمان: Oman. (not to get عُمان the country confused with عَمان Amman the capital of Jordan; one has a fetHa and the other a dama)

What do you know about the country عُمان? Have you heard of this Arab country before?

Here is a video in Modern Standard Arabic describing عُمان in all its richness.

معلومات عن سلطنة عمان

Till next time, happy Arabic learning! 😊