Arabic Technology Vocabulary: Phones, Internet and Coined Terms

Modern technology arrived faster than any language could fully name it, and Arabic handles this in an interesting way: some terms are coined from native roots, while others are borrowed and adapted.

Devices

• هاتف (hatif) — telephone (formal)
• جوال (jawwal) — mobile phone (common in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf)
• موبايل (mubayl) — mobile phone (common in Egypt and the Levant)
• حاسوب (hasub) — computer (a coinage from a root meaning "to calculate")
• كمبيوتر (kumbyutar) — computer (borrowed)
• شاشة (shasha) — screen
• لوحة مفاتيح (lawhat mafatih) — keyboard
• شاحن (shahin) — charger
• بطارية (bitariya) — battery

Internet and communication

• إنترنت (intirnit) — internet
• شبكة (shabaka) — network
• واي فاي (way fay) — Wi-Fi
• تطبيق (tatbiq) — app
• موقع (mawqi') — website or location
• رسالة (risala) — message
• بريد إلكتروني (barid iliktruni) — email
• مكالمة فيديو (mukalama fidiyu) — video call

Actions

• تحميل (tahmil) — download
• رفع (raf') — upload
• بحث (bahth) — search
• إرسال (irsal) — send
• حفظ (hifz) — save
• حذف (hadhf) — delete
• تسجيل الدخول (tasjil ad-dukhul) — log in
• كلمة المرور (kalimat al-murur) — password
• حساب (hisab) — account

Coinage and borrowing

Language academies in Cairo, Damascus, Baghdad and elsewhere coin Arabic equivalents for new technology, often using old roots in new ways. Some coinages catch on, like حاسوب, while others lose out to the borrowed term. In everyday speech, mixed usage is very common.

Arabic on screens

Devices handle right-to-left text automatically in most apps. When typing, switching the keyboard between Arabic and English is usually a matter of tapping a globe icon. Mixed text with English words, numbers or URLs may display in a surprising order, because the direction changes within a sentence.