# All dialects: ma3lish معلش



## Abduljesh

I'm embarrassed to say I have no idea how to write malish (No worries, it can't be helped) can someone enlighten me?


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## Josh_

It is a colloquial word, and as such there is no standard way to spell it.  I have seen it spelled a variety of ways.  Some such ways include  معلشّ، معلهش، معلاش and معليش.  

As for the origin, I believe it is a combination of the three words ما عليه شيء.


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## Abduljesh

Thank you so very much. I'm glad to have discovered this community.


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## cherine

Josh_ said:


> It is a colloquial word, and as such there is no standard way to spell it. I have seen it spelled a variety of ways. Some such ways include معلشّ، معلهش، معلاش and معليش.


معلش and معليش are more common than the other forms. I never say معلاش and معلهش is very old, I only saw it in the title in an old black and white movie معلهش يا زهر where they actually pronounced the haa2: ma3le*h*sh, wich is no longer the case in modern Egyptian.


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## azeid

^That's true for Cairo and Alexandria residents but in some regions in Upper Egypt and Delta they tend to pronounce haa2
to be like معلهش or معلاش
or also like معلشى


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## Ghabi

^It's great to have an Upper-Egypt speaker here, so we can know the regional differences!


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## Jasmine_Chila

معليش to me, for the fact that many Egyptians pronounce a medial ي in certain words like a long "a" with a hint of an "ee", like in the word s*a*y. Think of the way an Egyptian says بيت. Also, معلش without the ي since it also sounds like a short vowel. I think these two are the most common.


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## elroy

In Palestinian Arabic, it's "ma3lish," so it would be spelled معلش.

I'm pretty sure that in Syria - at least in some regions - they actually say ما عليه شي ("ma 3alee shii"), and I know I've heard just ما عليه ("ma 3alee") before - I think it's used in both Syrian and Lebanese.


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## yasmeena

elroy said:


> I'm pretty sure that in Syria - at least in some regions - they actually say ما عليه شي ("ma 3alee shii"), and I know I've heard just ما عليه ("ma 3alee") before - I think it's used in both Syrian and Lebanese.



In Lebanon, it's mostly ma3lee معليه, or ma3leshii معلشي(usually when followed by an elaboration).


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## Xence

In Maghrebi dialects, the "_h_" is rather pronounced more often than not: معليهش/ماعليهش _ma(a)3liihsh_
And ماعليه is also used.


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## gusfand

Josh_ said:


> As for the origin, I believe it is a combination of the three words ما عليه شيء.





elroy said:


> "maliish zamb" - "I didn't do anything wrong"


Just to make sure I`m not mistaken:
- maliish zamb = معليّش ذنب
- Is there anything like "malihash zamb" for "she didn't do anything wrong"?


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## Xence

gusfand said:


> maliish zamb = معليّش ذنب
> - Is there anything like "malihash zamb" for "she didn't do anything wrong"?


This has nothing to do with the current topic.
_maliish zamb_ = ماليش ذنب

ماليش is merely the contraction of ما + لي+ شيء _I have nothing (to do with...)_

As for the 3d person feminine, we would say:
مالهاش/ملهاش ذنب _ma(a)lhaash zamb_ 
In EA, of course.


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## Khaanabadosh

Can someone explain the etymology of this word?

The reason I ask is because in South Asian languages like Urdu/Hindi, we use this word for 'massage'. I'm wondering if the two are linked.


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## apricots

ما عليه شي translates literally to "not a thing on it."


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## abou_louei

ما عليهش كلمة يعود اصل جذعها الى كلمتين هما ما النافية و على شيء .. اي لا شيء يتقيد به


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## fdb

Khaanabadosh said:


> The reason I ask is because in South Asian languages like Urdu/Hindi, we use this word for 'massage'. I'm wondering if the two are linked.


There is no connection. مالش is from the Persian verb ماليدن“to rub”, present stem māl with the suffix –ish.


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## Khaanabadosh

Thank you.


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## tounsi51

In TA it's "miselesh" ميسالش 

I don't know if it's derived from ma3lish or another expression


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## Foxglove5

Does معلش have the same meaning or connotation in EgyptIan vs Levantine dialect? I always thought it just meant something like “oh well,” or “too bad.” 

But the Egyptian singer Hamza Namira has just released a new song called معلش where it seems to have connotations I am missing. He has lines like:

معلش يا معلش
الدنيا لاوية دراعي

and

حلّيني يا معلش

Is he just saying that Egyptians apologize too much or does the word معلش have an extra layer of meaning in Egyptian that I am not getting?


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## elroy

In Egyptian it's used to mean "I'm sorry" (for relatively minor things, I think).  It's not used this way in Levantine (to my knowledge).
In Levantine it means "It's okay" / "It's not a big deal."  I don't know if it also has this meaning in Egyptian. 

For example, an Egyptian might say معلش تأخرت عليك, meaning "I'm sorry for the delay."  This always sounds odd to my Levantine ears because it sounds like the person is downplaying the significance of the misdoing, which is not up to them to do and is antithetical to the nature of an apology!  So I tend to hear it as "I'm late, but it's no big deal" and it throws me off (or at least used to; now I'm more used to it).


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## Foxglove5

Thank you, Elroy, that’s exactly what was confusing me. Now the song makes sense.


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