Afro-Asiatic · ISO 639-3 arz
Egyptian Arabic Language اللغه المصريه الحديثه
Egyptian Arabic is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken by about 78 million people in 1 country. It is written in the Perso-Arabic script.
Where Egyptian Arabic is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
Countries that speak Egyptian Arabic
Language family
- Afro-Asiatic
- Semitic
- West Semitic
- Central Semitic
- Arabian
- Arabic
- Egyptic Arabic
- Egypto-Sudanic Arabic
- Egyptian Arabic
Writing system
Perso-Arabic script
Related languages
About the Egyptian Arabic language
Egyptian Arabic (اللغه المصريه الحديثه) is spoken by about 78 million people, which makes it the 26th most spoken language in the world — just behind Yue Chinese (79 million) and ahead of Korean (77 million). It belongs to the Afro-Asiatic language family and, more precisely, to the Egypto-Sudanic Arabic group within the West Semitic branch.
Where is Egyptian Arabic spoken?
Egyptian Arabic is used in 1 country. The largest communities live in Egypt (71 million). More than half of the population speaks it in Egypt — the places where travellers will hear it everywhere.
Egyptian Arabic is not a national official language anywhere.
Writing system and status
Egyptian Arabic is written in the Perso-Arabic script. It is a safe, widely transmitted language: children still learn it at home as their first language.
Its closest relatives in the same branch of the family are Sudanese Arabic, Saidi Arabic, Chadian Arabic, Eastern Egyptian Bedawi Arabic, Standard Arabic, Levantine Arabic and 2 more.
ISO codes: ISO 639-3 arz.
Frequently asked questions about Egyptian Arabic
How many people speak Egyptian Arabic?
Where is Egyptian Arabic spoken?
What language family does Egyptian Arabic belong to?
What is Egyptian Arabic called in Egyptian Arabic?
Is Egyptian Arabic an endangered language?
Data: Languages of the World dataset (MIT) — ISO 639-3, Glottolog (CC BY 4.0), Unicode CLDR, Google LinguaMeta (CC BY 4.0) and Wikidata; country lists: samayo/country-json (MIT). Speaker numbers include first- and second-language speakers where sources report them.