# MSA/All dialects: backside/buttocks/bottom/butt



## kifaru

I'd like to refer to the backside of a person but not in a fashion that will embarass me or the person I'm speaking to.


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## elroy

Standard or colloquial?

In standard Arabic you can use مؤخرة (_mu2akhkhara_).
In Palestinian Arabic you can use أفا (_afa_).


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## kifaru

Thanks so much


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## ayed

*مقعدة* miq'adah


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## cherine

Excuse me guys, but I'm not sure I understood.  Is backside like "butt"? or it just the back of a person?


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## elroy

I assumed that the latter was meant, as I am not aware of any vulgar words for someone's back.


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## cherine

haha good point!
In Egypt, you can hear the French word "popo" (with a stress on the second p). I recently heard "toto" (also the second t is stressed).

Afa قفا is the backneck

Ayed's suggestion miq3ada is the word in fuS7a, so you won't hear it in spoken language, but it's the appropriate word in a fuS7a context.


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## elroy

cherine said:


> In Egypt, you can hear the French word "popo" (with a stress on the second p). I recently heard "toto" (also the second t is stressed).


 We do not use these words in Palestinian Arabic. To me, they sound kind of childish.  Are they used by adults in serious conversation?


> Afa قفا is the backneck


 There's another difference between our dialects.  In Palestinian Arabic, it refers to the behind unless it's referring to the back side of something particular ("afa l-wara2a," "afa 'l-iid," or, indeed "afa 'r-ra2abe" ).


> Ayed's suggestion miq3ada is the word in fuS7a, so you won't hear it in spoken language, but it's the appropriate word in a fuS7a context.


 It may be *a* word that's used in fus7a, but it's not the only one because مؤخرة is also used.


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## cherine

elroy said:


> We do not use these words in Palestinian Arabic. To me, they sound kind of childish.  Are they used by adults in serious conversation?


Yes, it's childish, this is why it's not vulgar 
It's used mainly by children, girls, women. I'm not sure men would use it  I think they'd go for the overt word Tiiz طيز which it not vulgar, but also not a word you'd use anywhere with anyone.


> There's another difference between our dialects.  In Palestinian Arabic, it refers to the behind unless it's referring to the back side of something particular ("afa l-wara2a," "afa 'l-iid," or, indeed "afa 'r-ra2abe" ).


When we say "afa" alone, it's the backneck.
We don't say afa'l-iid, but sometimes afa'l-beet, for example, as a synonym for "Dahr el beet" ضهر البيت behind the house, the backside of the house.

Speaking of which, when we say ضرب فلان على قفاه means "fooled him", or "made a fool of him".


> It may be *a* word that's used in fus7a, but it's not the only one because مؤخرة is also used.


Yes, you're right


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## elroy

cherine said:


> I think they'd go for the overt word Tiiz طيز which it not vulgar, but also not a word you'd use anywhere with anyone.


 In Palestinian Arabic, it's pretty vulgar. It's not as vulgar or coarse as some other words, but it's certainly not a word you use in polite company, and it can be quite offensive (think of "il7as tiizi," for example ). Basically, I don't think it's the type of word Kifaru had in mind.  


> We don't say afa'l-iid, but sometimes afa'l-beet, for example, as a synonym for "Dahr el beet" ضهر البيت behind the house, the backside of the house.


 We would say "wara 'd-daar." We mostly use "afa" with "iid" in the context of hitting: "Darabo 'b2afa iido," for example.


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## WadiH

cherine said:


> Ayed's suggestion miq3ada is the word in fuS7a, so you won't hear it in spoken language, but it's the appropriate word in a fuS7a context.


 
Physicians will often use this word.


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## Mahaodeh

I've never heard Miq3ada in the feminine form, always miq3ad in the masculine form!



> think they'd go for the overt word Tiiz طيز which it not vulgar


 
I disagree, that is quite vulgar; I don't use this word among family and never ever use it in formal situations.



> In Palestinian Arabic you can use أفا (_afa_).


 


> It may be *a* word that's used in fus7a


 
It's قفا, in Fus7a it means behind or rear, derived from the verb قفا يقفو (to follow or come after), hence I would imagine it may refer to different things in differnt dialects; in Iraq they mostly use it for fabric and cloths and it refers to the "inside" or "backside" of the fabric. اقلب القميص على القفا means "turn the shirt inside out".

Among casual company (family and friends) I mostly use قفا, in more formal settings I would use خلفية and in writing (or fus7a) I use مؤخرة.  Anyway, it's easy to avoid the word altogether and refer to it indirectly.


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## cherine

Mahaodeh said:


> I've never heard Miq3ada in the feminine form, always miq3ad in the masculine form!


 Miq3ad is the chair, miq3ada is body part that sits on the chair. (If I may explain it this way)


> I disagree, that is quite vulgar; I don't use this word among family and never ever use it in formal situations.


I'm afraid I mis-expressed what I wanted to say.
Of course this word is not considered a polite, normal word that could be used by anyone anywhere. I had to say that it's not as vulgar as others. But of course it *is* a bad word. Sorry for the error .


> اقلب القميص على القفا means "turn the shirt inside out".


This same expression is sometimes used in Egypt, with the same meaning. But, to my knowledge, the expression more used is اقلب القميص على الضهر .


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## elroy

We use it with clothes as well.  As for the spelling, I had never seen the word written so I spelled it the way we pronounce it.  

Oh, and when I said, "It may be *a* word that's used in fus7a," I was referring to مقعدة and not قفا.


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## ayed

We , Badawi , often use the following words as euphemism so as not to mention the offensive part:
1.*Miq'adah* means "the lower part of backside"(butt).
2.*Qafa* means "the backside"(the whole back).
3.*Mokhir* means "the lower part" as well
4.At legal and investigation regsiter ,at courts and in fornt of a judge, it is called ( *3awrah mughallaDhah*)(*عورة مغلظة*).
==========================================
*Offensive words* used by Badawi Najdis :"*Makwah*" , "*khurr*" ,"*ShiTayib*""*bomah*"and "*Qumtah*", and *TeeZ*


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## Abu Talha

ayed said:


> *مقعدة* miq'adah


Hello. I see the dictionaries giving this word as m*a*q3adah, and defining it as السافِلة. Is سافلة also non-vulgar?

Also, is است considered vulgar these days?

Thanks.


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## barkoosh

I don't think those two words are considered vulgar because they are not common. سافلة could be easily confused with the feminine of سافل (despicable, low person). As for است, I only see it in some old references.

PS: This is the case in LA. I don't know if this applies to other dialects.


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## Tracer

ayed said:


> We , Badawi........
> *Offensive words* used by Badawi Najdis :"*Makwah*" , "*khurr*" ,"*ShiTayib*""*bomah*"and "*Qumtah*", and *TeeZ*


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Another offensive word I've heard in the Gulf area for this part of the human anatomy was uttered as:  *Tanakah Haggatak   *(Your rear end)
The "level" of offensiveness, of this phrase, of course, can only be gauged by a native speaker.

(It's odd that almost invariably, when learning a language in a native setting, especially as a child, some of the first expressions you learn are the "bad" words.  One wonders if any studies have been undertaken to this effect.  The fact that the "colloquials" also have a super-abundance of terms for this sort of thing as opposed to the "formal" language is also remarkable.).


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## muhammad2012

سافِلَة: مَقْعَدَة، دُبُر buttocks,ass......>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>  است:vent,anus................... they are not common now


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## Abu Talha

Thanks, Barkoosh, Muhammad.


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## girlwithafacee

Tracer said:


> Another offensive word I've heard in the Gulf area for this part of the human anatomy was uttered as:  *Tanakah Haggatak   *(Your rear end)
> The "level" of offensiveness, of this phrase, of course, can only be gauged by a native speaker.
> 
> (It's odd that almost invariably, when learning a language in a native setting, especially as a child, some of the first expressions you learn are the "bad" words.  One wonders if any studies have been undertaken to this effect.  The fact that the "colloquials" also have a super-abundance of terms for this sort of thing as opposed to the "formal" language is also remarkable.).



I've experienced that in a college setting as well. I'm learning informally from friends who are Saudi Arabian.  (And I definitely know all of the "offensive" words that Ayed posted).  I'm wondering what the consensus on the non-offensive word(s) will be, because I don't actually know one for this area.


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## إسكندراني

My favourite suggestion so far is مؤخرة


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## Schem

I agree with Iskenderany. It's also normally the word used when translating movies or books into MSA.


elroy said:


> In Palestinian Arabic you can use أفا (_afa_).


*قفا

We use a similar word *mgaffa مقفا*. Ayed's *mag3ad مقعد* is also used by some.


Abu Talha said:


> Also, is است considered vulgar these days?


*Est است *is considered quite vulgar where I come from, although not as vulgar as its other synonym. However, I have noticed its use in archaic Sharia works and other books of the same calibre.


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## Abu Talha

Schem said:


> *Est است *is considered quite vulgar where I come from, although not as vulgar as its other synonym. However, I have noticed its use in archaic Sharia works and other books of the same calibre.


Yes, that's where I've read it too. It seems like one of those really primitive words, by virtue of its difference from the سته root and feminine gender. So it could have become more "explicit" throughout the ages.


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## suma

I'm surprised no one mentioned either
*عجز*
*دبر

*I realized that they're both fuS-Haa or MSA, but still.


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## Schem

عجز is almost never used nowadays, not even in MSA. As for دبر, it's evolved over time to refer specifically to the anus as opposed to the buttocks.


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## scetis

[Moderator's Note: Merged with a previous thread]
When we talk about spanking we usually use the word bottom to be polite... but it's also common and informal.

Is there an equivalent in Syrian? For example, in Egypt they say البوبو...


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## elroy

The polite word in Palestinian is قفا (afa).  I'm not sure if it's used in Syrian.


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## scetis

Thanks, so in Egypt,  قفا (afa) always referred to the back of the neck? Is that the same word?


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## elroy

I suppose it is, yes.  In Palestinian, we use the word for "the back of" other things, but if it's just used on its own then it means "bottom" as in a polite word for the posterior.


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## Interprete

How about التحت (ta7t) ? I've read it in 1001 nights so not sure if it is still in use today...


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## water&sky

what about:

butt

in Lebanese Arabic


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## wriight

Butt - t'i:z  طيز/2Afa قفا  _(latter is more refined)_
If you're writing for a purely Lebanese audience, أفا (though it's wrong etymologically) might be a better-understood spelling than قفا.


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## elroy

wriight said:


> Butt - t'i:z  طيز/2Afa قفا  _(latter is more refined)_


 I would say that’s an understatement.   طيز is vulgar.  (See also prior posts.)


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## dakaplo

suma said:


> I'm surprised no one mentioned either
> *عجز*
> *دبر*
> 
> I realized that they're both fuS-Haa or MSA, but still.



There is also رِدف and كَفَل. I don't think these are very common today either, but someone should correct me if they are. In my experience مؤخرة is definitely the most common in MSA, as many have said.

By the way, if you'd like to read a long, amusing, eloquent discourse on backsides, buttocks, and behinds, which uses all of these words, and some more, take a look at _Leg Over Leg_ by Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq, starting at 3.5.7 (page 399 of the Arabic-only). The Arabic text is available for free from the Library of Arabic Literature. The end of the chapter contains an extensive list of very obscure Arabic vocabulary for describing people's butts. (The English translation is excellent, but unfortunately not available for free.)


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## grosdied

cherine said:


> haha good point!
> In Egypt, you can hear the French word "popo" (with a stress on the second p). I recently heard "toto" (also the second t is stressed).
> 
> Afa قفا is the backneck
> 
> Ayed's suggestion miq3ada is the word in fuS7a, so you won't hear it in spoken language, but it's the appropriate word in a fuS7a context.



The French word is actually popotin and is quite colloquial, not vulgar though.


elroy said:


> The polite word in Palestinian is قفا (afa).  I'm not sure if it's used in Syrian.


Yes it is, in exactly the same way.


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## Hemza

I'm surprised some noticed مقعد, that merely means "chair" in my dialect (meg3ad) .

In Morocco, I only know some very vulgar words for this  like ترمة, كر, and another one I heard once but this word bears another meaning to me, it's زق (zagg). This latter means to me "birds poo" and it's even used in a (vulgar) expression على زق which means "I don't care" (not used a lot though)


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## I.K.S.

Hemza said:


> I'm surprised some noticed مقعد, that merely means "chair" in my dialect (meg3ad)


This is called مجاز مجاورة same as الغائط which originally mean; a land with a lower elevation, Close to القعدة we use sometimes btw.


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