يعني

See also: یعنی

Arabic

Etymology

Non-past of عَنَى (ʕanā, “to mean, to concern”). Compare Hebrew יען (ya'en, “because of, since”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /jaʕ.niː/

Verb

يَعْنِي • (yaʕnī) (form I)

1. third-person masculine singular non-past active indicative of عَنَى (ʕanā)

Interjection

يَعْنِي • (yaʕnī)

1. (adverbial, conjunctive, prepositional, or adjectival) in other words, actually, namely, to wit, kind of, somewhat, id est, that is, meaning, you know
2. (filler) er, so, uh, well

Descendants

• Gulf Arabic: يعني (yaʕni)
• North Levantine Arabic: يعني (yaʕni)
• South Levantine Arabic: يعني (yaʕni)
• → Armenian: յանի (yani)
• → Azerbaijani: yəni
• → Bashkir: йәғни (yəğni)
• → Hebrew: יעני (yá'ni)
• → Hindustani:

  → Hindi: यानी (yānī)

  → Urdu: یعنی (e'nī)

• → Indonesian: yakni
• → Kalasha: yani
• → Kazakh: яғни (äğni)
• → Malay: yakni
• → Northern Kurdish: yenî, yani
• → Ottoman Turkish: یعنی (yani)

  > Turkish: yani (inherited)

  → Swedish: yani, yäni

• → Persian: یعنی / яъне (yaʾne)
• → Swahili: yaani
• → Tatar: ягъни (yağni), yağni
• → Tajik: яъне (yaʾne)
• → Uyghur: يەنى (yeni)
• → Uzbek: ya'ni

Verb

يَعْنِيَ • (yaʕniya) (form I)

1. third-person masculine singular non-past active subjunctive of عَنَى (ʕanā)

Gulf Arabic

Etymology

Non-past of Arabic عَنَى (ʕanā, “to mean, to concern”).

Verb

يَعْنِي • (yaʿnī)

1. (transitive) [he/she/it] means

Usage notes

• In the past tense, كان معناته is used, which means "its meaning was".

Interjection

يَعْنِي • (yaʿnī)

1. (adverbial) kind of, somewhat

   كان حلو الفلم ؟
   يعني بس مو وايد .

   Was the movie good?
   Kind of, but not so much.

Usage notes

• The expression is only used when answering questions.

North Levantine Arabic

Conjunction

يعني • (yaʿni)

1. so

   عملنا اللي فينا نعملو، يعني رح نشوف شو بيصير

   ʿMilna lli fīna naʿmlu, yaʿni raḥ nšūf šu biṣīr.

   We’ve done what we could, so we’ll see what happens.

Adverb

يعني • (yaʿni)

1. namely; that is; in other words

   لازم نسألو، يعني المعلم

   Lāzim nisʾalu, yaʿni li-mʿallim.

   We have to ask him, I mean the teacher.

Interjection

يعني • (yaʿni)

1. well; you know; er; uh

   يعني... الموضوع أصعب من هيك

   Yaʿni... l-mawḍūʿ ʾaṣʿab min hayk.

   Well... the affair is more complicated than that.

2. kind of; I guess

   كان حلو الفلم؟ — يعني، بس توقعتو أحلى

   Kān ḥilu l-film? — Yaʿni, bas twaʾʾaʿtu ʾaḥla.

   Was the film good? — I guess, but I’d expected it to be better.

3. (postpositioned) really; seriously; man; come on; used for emphasis

   ما في فرق كبير. هو نفس الشي تقريبا، يعني

   Ma fi fariʾ kbīr. Huwi nafs iš-ši taʾrīban, yaʿni.

   There’s no big difference. It’s roughly the same thing, really.

   هيدا مش معقول، يعني

   Hayda miš maʿʾūl, yaʿni.

   This is crazy, man.

South Levantine Arabic

Root
ع ن ي
3 terms

Etymology

From Arabic يَعْنِي (yaʕnī).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jaʕ.ni/, [ˈjaʕ.ni]

• Audio (Ramallah)

  (file)

Interjection

يعني • (yaʕni)

1. so, well, you know
2. I guess, I suppose
3. does that mean...? (in a question)