What does “asanseer” (أسانسير) mean in Egyptian Arabic?

موقف مضحك مع الاسانسير والباب

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B1 Arabic listening practice · Egyptian Arabic · Picked for people who know some

💡 Did you know?
أسانسير (asanṣēr)
Egyptian French loanword
“elevator” — French ascenseur, alive and well in Egyptian Arabic

Egyptians don’t take the مصعد the textbook promises — they take the أسانسير, straight from French ascenseur. It’s a relic of the era when French was Egypt’s language of modern city life, and it never left: buildings, signs, and daily complaints all use it. Say مصعد in Cairo and you’ll be understood; say أسانسير and you’ll sound like you actually live there.

The clip milks the word for comedy — a tour of a very strange أسانسير whose door behaves impossibly, capped with a deadpan سبحان الله (“glory to God,” here doing its everyday job of “would you look at that”). French left Egyptian Arabic a whole domestic wordlist: أباجورة (bedside lamp, from abat-jour), جاتوه (cake, from gâteau), ديكور (décor). Listen for ما تقلقوش — “don’t worry” — with the Egyptian ش-negation wrapped around it.

How common are the words?

How common are the words in this B1 Arabic listening practice video?

77.8%
of words are in the top 2,000 most common Arabic words
Most of the words in this video are common Arabic words.

How common in Arabic

59.3%
Top 1,000
77.8%
Top 2,000
100%
Top 5,000

How common in spoken Arabic

70.8%
Top 1,000
79.2%
Top 2,000
100%
Top 5,000

Harder words in this video

These words are harder than B1. Here is what they mean.

الاسانسير
2×
Not in top 5,000
elevator
انزل
2×
Not in top 5,000
go down
اهو
2×
Not in top 5,000
here he is
بص
2×
Not in top 5,000
look (imperative)
بقى
2×
Not in top 5,000
remained

Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · OpenSubtitles 2018 (HermitDave) (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.

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