Learn ArabicB2 › لَهْجَة

لَهْجَة

dialect (a regional or social variety of spoken Arabic); also accent /ˈlah.dʒa/

nounB2#3718 most common

Also: accent, manner of speech

Example sentences

لَهْجَتُهُ مِصْرِيَّةٌ.
His dialect is Egyptian.
أُحِبُّ لَهْجَةَ أَهْلِ الشَّامِ كَثِيرًا.
I like the dialect of the Levantine people a lot.
لِكُلِّ مِنْطَقَةٍ فِي المَغْرِبِ لَهْجَةٌ خَاصَّةٌ بِهَا.
Every region in Morocco has its own particular dialect.
تَتَغَيَّرُ اللَّهْجَةُ العَامِّيَّةُ مِنْ بَلَدٍ عَرَبِيٍّ إِلَى آخَرَ.
The colloquial dialect changes from one Arab country to another.
يَصْعُبُ أَحْيَانًا عَلَى المُتَعَلِّمِينَ فَهْمُ اللَّهَجَاتِ المَحَلِّيَّةِ رَغْمَ إِتْقَانِهِمُ الفُصْحَى.
Learners sometimes find it hard to understand local dialects despite mastering Modern Standard Arabic.
تُعَدُّ دِرَاسَةُ اللَّهَجَاتِ العَرَبِيَّةِ وَتَتَبُّعُ تَطَوُّرِهَا التَّارِيخِيِّ مِنْ أَكْثَرِ المَجَالَاتِ إِثَارَةً فِي عِلْمِ اللُّغَةِ الِاجْتِمَاعِيِّ.
The study of Arabic dialects and the tracing of their historical development is one of the most fascinating fields in sociolinguistics.

Declension

CaseSingularPlural
Nominativeلَهْجَةٌلَهَجَاتٌ
Genitiveلَهْجَةٍلَهَجَاتٍ
Accusativeلَهْجَةًلَهَجَاتٍ
Vocativeيَا لَهْجَةُيَا لَهَجَاتُ

Word family

لَهِجَto be persistently devoted to speaking of something
لَهَجfondness, persistent talk (verbal noun of لَهِجَ)
لَهْجَةdialect, accent
لَهَجَاتdialects, accents (plural)

Etymology

لَهْجَة comes from the Semitic root ل-ه-ج, tied to the verb لَهِجَ, which means to speak persistently of something or to be attached to an utterance. Classical Arabic lexicographers used the word for a person's particular manner of pronunciation, the way the tongue shapes speech. Over time the sense narrowed to its modern meaning: a regional or social dialect, or an individual's accent. The same root shows up in Biblical Hebrew as לַהַג (lahag), meaning study or discourse, in Ecclesiastes 12:12.

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