# أحلی



## Yasmin Haddad

أحلی
some people say it means cool
some people say it's pretty? what does it mean?


----------



## WadiH

In Saudi Arabia it can mean something like "cool," but typically it means "prettier than ..." (or "sweeter than ...").


----------



## seitt

[Mod note: Thread merged with the previous one about the same word. Cherine]

Greetings,

Please, what is the feminine of the word احلی (sweeter/sweetest)? Does it have a plural form too?

Could it be the same as the word for ‘halwa’, by any chance?

Best wishes, and many thanks,

Simon


----------



## fof

Comparatives/superlatives have the same form no matter what gender or number they are agreeing with. 7alwa means "sweet", in the feminine, masculine is "7alw".


----------



## lukebeadgcf

Remember to add the همزة to أحلى

Technically the feminine would be حُلْيا, but I believe such a word is very rare. The plurals could be أَحالٍ for masculine and حُلْيَيات for feminine, just as if not more obscure.

In الفصحى, the word for sweet (the opposite of bitter) is حُلْو, and the feminine is حُلْوَة. The word حَلْوى refers to something sweet, or candy/confectionery. In some dialects, the word حِلْو has come to mean "cool" or "sweet" in the sense a hip American teenager would use it.

All of these share the triliteral root ح ل و, although it is unclear to me which of these words is the etymological origin.


----------



## plstellme

[Mod note: Thread merged with the previous one about the same word. Cherine]


Hi everyone!

In written conversations or comments on social network I often see people writing أحلى and the name of the person they are adressing, like "أحلى سارة", which I interprete as "sweetest Sarah".
I have been seeing this both between females, between males, but also between people of the opposite sex of whom I know they are only platonic friends - so I assume this expression can be used without any romantic/flirtous intention. At least among native speakers.

But now my question is: Can a european female use this expression (in writing) towards a male platonic friend from the Middle East, maybe while wishing him a happy new year in Arabic, or would this probably give a wrong impression that one (not being a native speaker) just wants to call him "sweet"?

Thanks in advance!


----------



## cherine

People can see flirting when there's none if they want to, but أحلى simply means "the most beautiful" (or the "sweetest" as you said). It doesn't have any flirting nuance in itself, but it can have such a nuance if the context allows for such an understanding.


----------



## elroy

plstellme said:


> Can a european female use this expression (in writing) towards a male platonic friend from the Middle East, maybe while wishing him a happy new year in Arabic, or would this probably give a wrong impression that one (not being a native speaker) just wants to call him "sweet"?


 In Palestinian Arabic, yes, and no. 


cherine said:


> أحلى simply means "the most beautiful" (or the "sweetest" as you said)


 Literally, yes, but in Palestinian Arabic أحلى شيرين basically means something like "You're awesome" (said to Cherine). 


cherine said:


> It doesn't have any flirting nuance in itself, but it can have such a nuance if the context allows for such an understanding.


 In Palestinian Arabic, any flirtatious nuance or suggestion, if existent, would come _only_ from the surrounding context, not from the use of أحلى itself. 

As a matter of fact, I would even go so far as to say that if a straight girl said أحلى سامر to a straight guy, if anything it would imply platonic-ness, i.e. that she sees him as a buddy/friend, with no flirtatious insinuations whatsoever.


----------



## Mahaodeh

elroy said:


> but in Palestinian Arabic أحلى شيرين basically means something like "You're awesome" (said to Cherine).



 I was just about to say that. You can use it and I doubt there will be any misunderstanding.


----------



## plstellme

cherine said:


> It doesn't have any flirting nuance in itself, but it can have such a nuance if the context allows for such an understanding.


Thanks! The context would just be a greeting either for Christmas or new year.


elroy said:


> In Palestinian Arabic, yes, and no.


My friend is from Syria - just in case this makes any difference...


elroy said:


> Literally, yes, but in Palestinian Arabic أحلى شيرين basically means something like "You're awesome" (said to Cherine).


How about Syrian Arabic?


elroy said:


> As a matter of fact, I would even go so far as to say that if a straight girl said أحلى سامر to a straight guy, if anything it would imply platonic-ness, i.e. that she sees him as a buddy/friend, with no flirtatious insinuations whatsoever.


I am shocked that among hundreds of possible names you picked exactly the name of the person I want to write this to... 


Mahaodeh said:


> I was just about to say that. You can use it and I doubt there will be any misunderstanding.


Thanks for your input, but just to be sure:
Would you also see it that way if this phrase was used by a foreigner (who only knows a few words of Arabic)?


----------



## cherine

elroy said:


> In Palestinian Arabic, any flirtatious nuance or suggestion, if existent, would come _only_ from the surrounding context, not from the use of أحلى itself.


In EA too, and that's what I meant. Sorry if I wasn't clear.


plstellme said:


> just to be sure:
> Would you also see it that way if this phrase was used by a foreigner (who only knows a few words of Arabic)?


Yes, it doesn't matter whether you're a native speaker or a foreigner. He would surely assume you've learned it from other natives' usage. So you can safely use it with no worries.


----------



## analeeh

It's used the same way in Syrian.


----------



## plstellme

Thank you all for your help so far!

I have another question concerning the same word.
I noticed that online translators usually translate "ﺃﺣﻠﻰ" in different ways. Sometimes "prettiest", sometimes "sweetest", but sometimes also "best".
We have mentioned earlier that it literally means "prettiest/most beautiful" or "sweetest", but I am wondering where the translation "best" comes from.
Could it be that it goes in line with what Elroy said, that "ﺃﺣﻠﻰ ﺷﻴﺮﻳﻦ" basically means something like "You (Cherine) are awesome"?


----------



## analeeh

It's related in that حلو itself means several different things - 'sweet' (of food), 'pretty', 'cute' and also generally sometimes just 'good' (of situations for example).

احلى شي for example often means 'the best thing'. ما في احلى من means 'there's nothing better than', etc.


----------



## plstellme

analeeh said:


> It's related in that حلو itself means several different things - 'sweet' (of food), 'pretty', 'cute' and also generally sometimes just 'good' (of situations for example).
> 
> احلى شي for example often means 'the best thing'. ما في احلى من means 'there's nothing better than', etc.




Thank you very much for the explanation! 

Some phrases on that line that I often come across are:

ﺍﺣﻠﻰ ﺃﻳﺎﻡ

 ﺍﺣﻠﻰ ﺟﺎﺭﻱ 

In these two examples, would it translate "sweetest" or "best"?

Thanks in advance! 


(Also, if I want to ask the difference between ﺍﺣﻠﻰ and another word, can I do it here or should I open another thread?)


----------



## analeeh

Without context I'd say the second one is best translated neither as 'sweetest' nor 'best' - as discussed further up in the thread احلى has an idiomatic use which is something like 'what a great X' or 'X is so great' (these are clunky translations but you get the idea). احلى ايام probably means 'best days'.


----------



## cherine

Yes, for أحلى أيام, I'd say it means "the best days". We also say أحسن أيام. For أحسن جار it can be either the sweetest neighbor or the best neighbor.


plstellme said:


> Also, if I want to ask the difference between ﺍﺣﻠﻰ and another word, can I do it here or should I open another thread?


If it's related, you can ask here. If it turns to be different, I can split it into another thread.


----------

