How to Say “Job” in Arabic

Ways to say it

In Arabic, there are several ways to express the concept of a job depending on whether you mean general work, a specific position or a professional career.

Which one should you use?

While عَمَل is a general term for work or labor, وَظِيفَة specifically refers to a formal position or a specific post within an organization. If you are referring to a profession or a specialized vocation rather than a single job assignment, use مِهْنَة.

Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?

For formal contexts, use وَظِيفَة to refer to a position or the phrase المنصب الوظيفي when referring specifically to job titles or positions. In casual, everyday conversation and spoken dialects, شُغْل is commonly used to mean work or a job. Similarly, the term شغلة is an informal way to refer to a job.

Is it said differently in some regions?

The term شُغْل is a colloquial form used in spoken dialects to mean 'work' or 'job' in a casual sense.

Related words

Biblical and Qur'anic character (name): أَيُّوب.

Book of the Bible (name): سِفْر أَيُّوب.

How does it change in a sentence?

The word عَمَل is a masculine noun, so any accompanying adjectives or verbs must agree with its masculine gender. Conversely, وَظِيفَة is a feminine noun, so any accompanying adjectives or verbs must agree with its feminine gender.

How do you pronounce it?

ʕamal