Ways to say it
| Arabic | Romanization (Wiktionary) | Note |
|---|---|---|
| عِيد مِيلَاد | ʕīd mīlād | masculine |
| يَوْم مِيلَاد | yawm mīlād | masculine |
The term is used to refer to the anniversary of one's birth. To wish someone a happy birthday, you can say عِيد مِيلَاد سَعِيد.
What does it mean word for word?
The term عِيد مِيلَاد is composed of عِيد, meaning festival or feast and مِيلَاد, meaning birth.
Which one should you use?
While عِيد مِيلَاد is the standard way to say "birthday", the form يَوْم مِيلَاد literally means "day of birth" and is more descriptive of the specific date.
How does it change in a sentence?
To say "my birthday", you add the possessive suffix -ī to the end of the phrase, resulting in عِيد مِيلَادِي.
How do you pronounce it?
ʕīd mīlād
When do people say it?
When celebrating a birthday, it is common to offer specific blessings. Formal greetings often involve wishing the person well-being through the years, while informal wishes often include hopes for a long life, such as wishing someone reaches one hundred years of age.
Did you know?
- In some traditional Arabic contexts, people avoid celebrating birthdays and instead focus on the 'Hijri' lunar calendar. This means the date of a birthday can shift by about eleven days every year compared to the Gregorian calendar.
- In some Arabic dialects, people use the word مَوْلِد instead of مِيلَاد to refer to a birth anniversary. This term is most famously used to commemorate the 'Mawlid', the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad.
- Arabic uses a system of 'broken plurals' that makes pluralizing birthday terms unpredictable. To talk about multiple 'birthdays' or 'festivals', عِيد becomes أَعْيَاد, changing the internal structure of the word entirely.
Examples in context
- مَتَى عِيد مِيلَادُكَ؟Matā 'īdu mīlādika?When is your birthday?
Example conversation
Yousef and Noor are talking about a party.
- يوسف Youssefهل حضرتِ حفلة عِيد مِيلَاد سارة؟hal hadarti haflat ‘īd mīlād Sarah?Did you attend Sarah's birthday party?
- نور Nourنعم، كانت الحفلة رائعة جداً.na‘am, kānat al-hafla rā’i‘a jiddan.Yes, the party was very wonderful.
- يوسف Youssefماذا قدمتِ لها من هدايا؟mādhā qaddamti lahā min hadāyā?What gifts did you give her?
- نور Nourأعطيتها كتاباً جميلاً.a‘taytuhā kitāban jamīlan.I gave her a beautiful book.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “birthday” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
