# جليد  / صقيع



## Su^

Hi there!


I would like to know which of the two words is the correct one for frost. According to my dictionary it is صقيع, but then I asked a native speaker and he said that it was جليد...

For example lwhich word would you use if you would want to say, "the trees are frosty" - or "what a frosty day"


best,


/su


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## Ustaath

it depends on the region I would guess.
In Lebanon, were frost can be common on clear winter nights in the mountains and the interior we call it جليد when on roads and a more colloquial expression: مِلّاح when on trees, grass and other vegetation ( reminiscent of 'salty appearance)
and always MSA and LA refer to bitter cold as صقيع


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## Su^

But how would you for example say "the trees are frosty" in MSA?


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## Ustaath

I would think both صقيع and جليد will do.
تغطّت الاشجار بالصقيع أو
الاشجار مغطّاة بالجليد
used interchangeably depending on regional preferences.
Trees aren't 'frosty' in Arabic for مجلدّة would mean frozen and  مصقّعة means ' chilly - cold'


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## إسكندراني

In Egyptian we call everything تلج (ثلج)ـ except real deepish snow which we call جليد. And صقعة only means cold.


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## Su^

so many variations, this language isn't easy to learn


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## Ustaath

stick to fus7a for now


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## Su^

Lol - yes, Fus7a is always the safest path to take! ^_^


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## إسكندراني

ثلج means *ice *strictly speaking. Other usages are local.


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## fatomaty

interesting!!

*"It's a cold day"* >> can be okay and describe the situation

*"انه يوم شديد البرودة"*

no صقيع 
no جليد

because they are Arabic snow names and maybe you just would like to describe the weather

*شديد البرودة*


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## Ustaath

you could technically say مُصقع for a frosty day... but see my post above re; frosty trees however I did come up with this from لسان العرب:
 أَصْقَعَ الصقِيعُ الشجرَ، والشجرُ صَقِعٌ ومُصْقَعٌ.
وأَصبحتِ الأَرضُ صَقِعةً وضَرِبةً.


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## fatomaty

That's good, it could be 18th century forms expressions, it depends


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## Ustaath

yes I have never seen it before but I thoguht it would be worth mentioning if only because I had previoulsy stated that to my knowledge we don't say "frosty trees' in Arabic but rather 'trees covered with frost'- though technically apparently we can- even if archaic .


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## إسكندراني

Ustaath said:


> you could technically say مُصقع for a frosty day... but see my post above re; frosty trees however I did come up with this from لسان العرب:
> أَصْقَعَ الصقِيعُ الشجرَ، والشجرُ صَقِعٌ ومُصْقَعٌ.
> وأَصبحتِ الأَرضُ صَقِعةً وضَرِبةً.


الجوّ مصقّع already means (it's gotten cold) in Egypt 
And مصقّعة is something very delicious...
So I don't see this word spreading unfortunately!
But if this was a suitable place to coin new words then I would gladly contribute  since the existing ones seem insufficient!


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## fatomaty

مصقعه lol 
I think he make it too complicated, 
So why he didn't keep it simple?
Unless he's in alaska  

Okay he wants the trees in his sentences so he can say 
الأشجار مكسوة بالجليد


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## Ustaath

fatomaty ...أصبتها 100%


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## fatomaty

شكراً جزيلاً 

Hopefully it's ok, thanks again


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## Mahaodeh

This is how I understand it. صقيع is frost that happens when it's very cold but there is no precipitation (i.e., rain, snow, hail), and what freezes is the water on the ground cover or vegetation, or the vapor water in the air; this creates a very thin layer of frozen water like this and this.

جليد is what is caused by precipitation, mostly heavy snow, that melts then freezes again cause a thick layer of ice like this and this, and of course, this.

Basically, جليد is solid (that's why it's called جليد ) while صقيع is like sand or dirt, not liquid but it's هشّ.

Obviously, ثلج is snow as well as a generic term for ice.


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## Ustaath

yes, I agree with Maha, frost as in hoary frost is صقيع which in colloquial Lebanese we don't use for frost but instead use ملاح and we use صقيع and it's derivatives to mean bitter cold 
جليد is simply frozen water on the ground 
but in MSA it seems the distinction is rather vague perhaps due to influence of dialects.


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## إسكندراني

Back to the original question:
If I were to say 'the ground is frosty' in colloquial, I would just say it was frozen:
الأرض مجمّدة أو متلّجة
And I would say 'the trees have iced over':
الشجر متلّج


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