/ˈaɪ.pə/

Egyptian Arabic

Family: Afro-Asiatic · Africa · ISO arz · Glottolog · 102,000,000 speakers
58
Consonants
9
Vowels

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in Egyptian Arabic — a Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Africa . With 67 phonemes, it has a relatively large inventory compared to the world's languages. Sounds marked with a dashed border (*) are marginal: they appear only in loanwords or highly specialized contexts and are not part of the core phonological system.

Consonants

affricate

d̠ʒ ~

approximant

w ~ wː ~ j ~ jː ~

fricative

ð ~ ðˤ ~ θ ~ hː ~ h ~ fː ~ f ~ v ~ χː ~ ʕ ~ ʁː ~ ħː ~ ʁ ~ ʕː ~ ħ ~ χ ~

lateral fricative

lː ~ l ~

nasal

n ~ nː ~ m ~ mː ~

sibilant fricative

zː ~ s ~ z ~ sː ~ sˤ ~ zˤ ~ sˤː ~ zˤː ~ ʃ ~ ʃː ~

stop

tˤ ~ dː ~ d ~ tː ~ tˤː ~ dˤː ~ dˤ ~ t ~ b ~ bː ~ p ~ ʔː ~ ʔ ~ qː ~ q ~ ɡ ~ kː ~ k ~ ɡː ~

tap

ɾ ~

trill

rː ~

Vowels

uː ~ ʊ ~ oː ~ ɪ ~ iː ~ a̟ ~ æː ~ ə ~ eː ~

* Marginal phoneme — occurs only in loanwords or rare contexts.

How large is this inventory?

Smaller (11) Average (36) Larger (141)
67
phonemes

Egyptian Arabic has 67 phonemes, placing it in the 96th percentile of languages by inventory size — a notably large inventory.

Compared to English

For English speakers learning Egyptian Arabic, these are the sounds that will require the most focused practice.

In Egyptian Arabic, not in English (47)

These sounds don't exist in English — English speakers will need to learn them from scratch.

wː jː ðˤ hː fː χː ʕ ʁː ħː ʁ ʕː ħ χ lː nː mː zː sː sˤ zˤ sˤː zˤː ʃː tˤ dː tː tˤː dˤː dˤ t bː p ʔː ʔ qː q kː k ɡː ɾ rː uː ɪ a̟ æː ə eː

In English, not in Egyptian Arabic (25)

English speakers learning Egyptian Arabic won't use these sounds — they'll need to suppress them.

pʰ t̠ʃ ŋ e i ʒ ts ɛ ɒ ɐ ɘ ɹ kx ɐː ʉː iə eə oe æe ɑe ɵː æo ɐʉ ɒɯ ʉə
Full phoneme comparison: English vs Egyptian Arabic →

Most phonologically similar languages

Ranked by Jaccard similarity — the proportion of phonemes shared relative to the combined inventory of both languages.

Tigrinya 40%
Compare →
Hungarian 39%
Compare →
Tigre 39%
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Sinhalese 35%
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Amharic 34%
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Compare Egyptian Arabic with another language

See which sounds are shared and which are unique.

vs Hakka Chinese vs SEDANG vs Kharia vs Bhumij vs Kota vs Burushaski vs Kabardian vs Lak vs Ket vs Yao