How to say "still, yet" in Arabic
New wordMeaningstill, yet
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
mā zālaמא זאל
ما زال
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
adayinأَدَايِن
How the two words are related
No Hebrew relative — learn it fresh.
Arabic root
ز-و-لNo accepted Hebrew relative for ز-و-ل, 'to cease, pass away' — literally, 'still' in Arabic is 'has not ceased [to be]'. Hebrew's own זול, 'cheap', actually shares all three root letters (ז-ו-ל) — but that's geometry, not history: no accepted etymology bridges 'cheap' and 'cease, disappear', and זול is itself a late (Mishnaic) coinage of debated origin, not an obvious match for this root at all.
Learn it
On the street
How people actually say it in the spoken dialects, where it differs from the standard word.
Levantine · Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria
The everyday street word for 'still, not yet' is lissa: lissa mā wṣilt — "I still haven't arrived."
Egyptian · Cairo and the Nile Delta
Cairo's lissa, like the Levant's, means still or not yet.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
Darija's still is bāqi: bāqi ma jāsh — he still has not come.
In a phrase
He is still asleep.