زبالة
zibālaeveryday, Egyptian
In Egyptian Arabic "trash" is زبالة (zibāla). With the article it is الزبالة (ez-zibāla).
Use it for household waste, as in كيس زبالة (kīs zibāla), a trash bag, or شيل الزبالة (shīl ez-zibāla), "take out the trash".
Meaning: trash, garbage (noun)
Which one should you use?
A garbage collector is زبال (zabbāl). Called about a person or a thing, زبالة (zibāla) is a rude way to say it is worthless.
Is it said differently in some regions?
Standard Arabic has قمامة (qumāma) for rubbish, which Egyptians understand but use less in daily talk.
Did you know?
- Cairo has a well-known community of waste collectors called the زبالين (zabbalīn), who have sorted the city's rubbish for decades.
Examples in context
- خد الزبالة معاك وانت نازل.khud ez-zibāla maʿāk wi inta nāzil.Take the trash with you on your way down.
- الزبالة اتجمعت قدام البيت.ez-zibāla itgamaʿit ʾuddām el-bēt.The trash has piled up in front of the house.
- محتاجين كيس زبالة.miḥtagīn kīs zibāla.We need a trash bag.
Example conversation
Mother Hanan reminds her son Omar before he leaves for school in Cairo.
- Hananيا عمر، خد الزبالة وانت نازل.yā ʿOmar, khud ez-zibāla wi inta nāzil.Omar, take the trash down with you.
- Omarحاضر يا ماما.ḥāḍir yā mama.OK, Mom.
- Hananارميها في الصندوق اللي في الشارع.irmīha fi ṣ-ṣandūʾ illi fi sh-shāriʿ.Throw it in the bin in the street.
