What does “malesh” (معلش) mean in Arabic?

معلش (malesh) does the work of four English phrases at once: “sorry,” “never mind,” “don’t worry about it,” and “that’s life.” It comes from the classical مَا عَلَيْهِ شَيْء (“there is nothing upon it”) collapsed into a single conversational breath. Because it apologises and dismisses at the same time, it is the go-to word whenever you want to smooth over friction without making a big deal of it.

In the clip, a bystander walks into a comedy skit being filmed on the street. The director turns to him and says “قاعدين نصور ما تقاطع التصوير الله يسعدك يعني معلش” — “we’re filming, please don’t interrupt, God bless you, I mean… معلش.” That final معلش is the whole move: a firm request wrapped in a smile, asking forgiveness for the request itself. You will hear it across Egypt, the Levant, the Gulf, and North Africa, with spelling variants معليش and معلاش depending on the dialect. It is sometimes grouped with Inshallah and Bukra as one of the three words that shape the unhurried pace of daily Arab social life.