يَنَايِر
yanāyirmasculine
The English word January is يَنَايِر (yanāyir) in Arabic. Wiktionary also lists كَانُون اَلثَّانِي (kānūn aṯ-ṯānī).
Meaning: first month of the Gregorian calendar (name)
Ways to say it
| Arabic | Romanization (Wiktionary) | Note |
|---|---|---|
| يَنَايِر | yanāyir | masculine |
| كَانُون اَلثَّانِي | kānūn aṯ-ṯānī | masculine |
The word refers to the first month of the Gregorian calendar.
Which one should you use?
يَنَايِر is the version used across much of the Arab world, while كَانُون اَلثَّانِي is used primarily in the Levant and Iraq.
Is it said differently in some regions?
يَنَايِر is the version most widely used in Egypt and the Maghreb. كَانُون اَلثَّانِي is primarily used in the Levant (Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Palestine) and Iraq.
How does it change in a sentence?
يَنَايِر is a masculine noun and does not change its form based on grammatical case in common usage.
How do you pronounce it?
yanāyir
When do people say it?
When celebrating the start of a new year, people often say كل عام وأنتم بخير to mean Happy New Year!
Did you know?
- In the Levant, January is كَانُون اَلثَّانِي, meaning 'the second Kanun'. This refers to an ancient Mesopotamian calendar where 'Kanun' was a season of winter.
- Because يَنَايِر is a loanword, it does not follow the traditional Arabic patterns for deriving words from roots, unlike many indigenous Arabic nouns.
- If you use يَنَايِر in a formal setting in Lebanon, you might sound slightly more 'international' or 'modern', whereas كَانُون اَلثَّانِي sounds more traditionally local.
Examples in context
- يَنَايِر هُوَ أَوَّلُ شَهْرٍ فِي السَّنَةِ.yanāyir huwa awwalu shahrin fī as-sanah.January is the first month of the year.
- وُلِدَ أَخِي فِي شَهْرِ يَنَايِر.wulida akhī fī shahri yanāyir.My brother was born in January.
- هَلْ سَافَرْتَ فِي يَنَايِر؟hal sāfarta fī yanāyir?Did you travel in January?
Sources
- Wiktionary, “January” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
