شيخ
“شيخ” (шейх) — old man in Arabic. Noun, level A2, topic — people and family. The "sheikh" of the newspapers. In everyday Arabic it is simply an older person one addresses with respect; a scholar and the head of a family are a shaykh too. In a live sentence: “الشيخ في المقهى” — The old man is in the coffeehouse. Written with the characters ش, ي, خ. One of 195 words in the set “people and family” in the Arabic course.
In short
| Written in Arabic | شيخ |
| Read in Latin letters | шейх |
| Translation | old man |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A2 |
Why it looks that way
The "sheikh" of the newspapers. In everyday Arabic it is simply an older person one addresses with respect; a scholar and the head of a family are a shaykh too
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- الشيخ في المقهىаш-шейх фи ль-махкаThe old man is in the coffeehouse
Nearby words: people and family
Mum, friend, child, neighbour. The first thing people ask you about, and the first thing you tell about yourself.
- صديقсадийкfriendThe emphatic s at the start. A woman friend is sadiiqa, and the plural is asdiqaa
- عائلةʿааʾиляfamilyFrom ʿaaʾila — a clan: family in the wide sense, with grandparents and cousins. The hamza in the middle sits on an alif
- أمуммmomThe shadda mm is long. Ummi — "my mom" — is also said to an older woman from respect
- أبабdadThe affectionate form is baa — baa, the syllable babies babble everywhere. The formal ab lives in documents
- طفلтифльchildThe t is emphatic. Two children are tiflaan: the dual with -aan on the end, as in ithnaan
- بائعбааиʿsellerFrom the verb "to sell", with the ayn in the middle — that squeezed throat. The seller woman is baaʾiʿa, and at the market it is her in nine cases out of ten
- زبونзабуунbuyerThe same word means "customer": in a cafe, a taxi, a shop they are all zabuun. The long uu in the middle stretches
- إنسانинсаанhumanA human in general, any of the people. The plural is unaas: "people" and "folk" are one word for every case
- رجلраджульmanIt is written on men’s room doors exactly so — rajul. Both "a man" and "a husband": one word holds both roles
- امرأةимрааwomanIn writing a hamza sits inside: im-ra-ʾa. It stands on the ladies’ room doors too, and the pluralnisaaʾ looks nothing like the singular
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “people and family”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “old man” in Arabic?
The "sheikh" of the newspapers. In everyday Arabic it is simply an older person one addresses with respect; a scholar and the head of a family are a shaykh too
- How do you say “buyer” in Arabic?
The same word means "customer": in a cafe, a taxi, a shop they are all zabuun. The long uu in the middle stretches
- How do you say “mom” in Arabic?
The shadda mm is long. Ummi — "my mom" — is also said to an older woman from respect
- How do you say “woman” in Arabic?
In writing a hamza sits inside: im-ra-ʾa. It stands on the ladies’ room doors too, and the pluralnisaaʾ looks nothing like the singular
- How do you say “seller” in Arabic?
From the verb "to sell", with the ayn in the middle — that squeezed throat. The seller woman is baaʾiʿa, and at the market it is her in nine cases out of ten
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “old man” in Arabic?
«شيخ», read “шейх”. In a live sentence: “الشيخ في المقهى” — The old man is in the coffeehouse. Noun, level A2, from the set “people and family”; written with the characters ش, ي, خ.
How is “شيخ” written in Latin letters?
шейх. This is a practical spelling — you need it to read aloud and be understood, not to meet an academic standard.
Why does this word look the way it does?
The "sheikh" of the newspapers. In everyday Arabic it is simply an older person one addresses with respect; a scholar and the head of a family are a shaykh too. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.