# All dialects: عيش



## MarcB

All dialects عيش food. The word عيش  can mean rice in some dialects and bread in others. What does your dialect use?


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## akhooha

In what dialects does عيش mean rice?


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## barkoosh

عيش is not used in Lebanon for any kind of food.


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## momai

I think it means bread in Egypt or some parts of it.
And as in Lebanon we don't use it for any kind of food here in Syria.


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## tounsi51

In some Gulf countries it means rice.

In North Africa we say ماكلة for food


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## Hemza

In Hijazi (Western Saudi Arabia) it means "bread". I never heard it with the meaning "food".

As "*Tounsi51* said, in North Africa (except Egypt/Sudan), we say "ماكلة"


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## tounsi51

I have also heard from Kuwait ماكلة pronounced as ماجلة


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## Hemza

I suppose it comes from the "k" to "tch" shift lol, like "tchif 7aletch?" ahahaha!!! But I didn't know this word was used there, I tought it was typically Maghrebi


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## tounsi51

Yeah that's correct, I was also suprised when I heard it from Kuwaitis


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## Schem

عيش is not used for any kind of food in Najd or the Hejaz but some use it to mean rice in eastern Saudi Arabia in accordance with other Gulf dialects.


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## Hemza

I'm sure it's used for "bread" in Hijaz (may be, only Urban Hijazi?)


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## Arabic Guru

عيش is not used in Palestine for any kind of food.
We use bread = خبز 
But, you maybe hear this proverb المثل in Palestine كان بينّا عيش وملح or في بينهم عيش وملح ...etc


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## MarcB

شكرا جزيلا


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## Schem

Hemza said:


> I'm sure it's used for "bread" in Hijaz (may be, only Urban Hijazi?)



I thought khubz خبز was more common there? But yeah, probably only UH (since Bedouin Hejazis use vocab much like Najdis' and we don't use the word at all). Maybe we should wait for a native speaker to elaborate on the situation.


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## Hemza

It's my friend from Jeddah who teached me this word for "bread", me too, I absolutely didn't know about it before. But since I never lived in Saudi Arabia, I can't tell you if it's used in Bedouin Hijazi or not as moreover, I don't speak "pure" bedouin Hijazi dialects but rather a weird Moroccan and Bedouin-Urban Hijazi mix lol. I can't even tell you which one is more common.


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## Hemza

I add that I just watched a Mauritanian soap opera (in 7assania) and they used "3aysh" with the meaning "bread". A guy said "akalt kushkush (couscous) wa 3aysh ma Ti7t maridh, hadha ma ma3qul!"


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## ayed

3aish is commonly used in Najdi Badawi dialect


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## MarcB

يا عايد يعني العيش الخبز أو الأرز؟


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## ayed

Rice


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## mekman99

عيش means in some dialects in Algeria "Couscous".


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## elroy

Arabic Guru said:


> عيش is not used in Palestine for any kind of food.
> We use bread = خبز
> But, you maybe hear this proverb المثل in Palestine كان بينّا عيش وملح or في بينهم عيش وملح ...etc



وفي كمان "كل عيش وإلو كريش" 

 للي بعرفش المثل: المعنى إنو الواحد لو كان شبعان إذا صحتلو الفرصة يوكل كمان مرة بقدر ما يقولش لأ ويوكل، أو إنو يعني بضل في محل لكمان أكمن لقمة. هاي بقولوها مثلا إذا واحد عزموه عالأكل وقال "أنا شبعان، بعدني هلأ ماكل"، بنفع يقولوله: "معلش، كل عيش وإلو كريش". واضح إنو هون كلمة عيش مستخدمة بمعنى أكل أو نوع من الأكل، مع إنو هدا المعنى مش موجود بالحكي العادي.


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## djara

In some parts of Tunisia (south), عيش is a kind of wheat or barley porridge (a soft food made by boiling meal of grains or legumes in milk or water until thick). In other parts of Tunisia, this is called عصيدة عربي


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## ajamiyya عجمية

At ....is it called "Madeenat al Hujjaj?"...   I have forgotten its name, now.  I mean the airport at Jeddah which is specifically meant for Pilgrims.

...In any case, at that airport, I saw the word عيش on the menu-board of one of the restaurants established to feed the phenomenal number of souls who pass through its gates on their way to Mecca, may their strivings be accepted.

I am sure it meant "bread" because, hey, I had to figure it out.


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