How to say "excuse me / with your permission" in Arabic
Shifted meaningMeaningexcuse me / with your permission
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
ʿan idhnikען אד'נך
عن إذنك
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
slikha, birshutkhaسْلِيخَا، بِرْشُوتْخَا
How the two words are related
Same root as a Hebrew word, but the meaning drifted over the centuries.
Arabic root
أ-ذ-نHebrew root
א-ז-ןIdhn, 'permission,' shares its root أ-ذ-ن with Hebrew אוזן, 'ear' — the very ancient Semitic word for ear, unchanged in both languages (compare Arabic أُذُن, ear, itself). Arabic extended the root from 'ear' to 'permission': to listen to someone is to heed them, and to heed is to allow.
Related Hebrew word:אוזןozenأُوزِن
Learn it
On the street
How people actually say it in the spoken dialects, where it differs from the standard word.
Egyptian · Cairo and the Nile Delta
Cairo turns dh into z: ʿan iznak (ʿan iznik to a woman).
In a phrase
excuse me, I'm leaving
More words from this root
More in Greetings & Essentials
- with pleasure / gladlybi-kulli surūrبِكُلِّ سُرُورבשמחה
- at your service / go aheadtaḥta amrikتَحْتَ أَمْرِكלשירותך
- I missed youishtaqtu ilaykاِشْتَقْتُ إِلَيْكהתגעגעתי אליך
- see you later / I'll see youarāk lāḥiqanأَرَاك لَاحِقًاנתראה אחר כך
- how is your family?kayfa ahlakكَيْفَ أَهْلَك؟מה שלום המשפחה?
- God bless you (reply to thanks or a compliment)allāhu yubārik fīkاللَّهُ يُبَارِك فِيكשאלוהים יברך אותך