alba7r alabyad almutawassit
the Mediterranean SeaThe word, broken down.
الْبَحْر اَلْأَبْيَض اَلْمُتَوَسِّط reads right to left. Below, each letter in reading order, with its sound and the keys that type it.
A long 'a' vowel. A single upright stroke, and the first letter of the alphabet.
A plain 'l'. A tall upright stroke with a curved foot.
A plain 'b'. A tooth-shaped body with one dot below.
A short 'a', written as a small stroke above the letter.
A breathy h from deep in the throat, heavier than an English 'h'.
A rolled 'r', closer to Spanish than English.
A long 'a' vowel. A single upright stroke, and the first letter of the alphabet.
A short 'a', written as a small stroke above the letter.
A plain 'l'. A tall upright stroke with a curved foot.
A glottal stop carried on an alif.
A short 'a', written as a small stroke above the letter.
A plain 'b'. A tooth-shaped body with one dot below.
A 'y', or a long 'i' vowel when it carries no vowel of its own.
A short 'a', written as a small stroke above the letter.
An emphatic 'd'. Arabic is called 'the language of the ḍād'.
A long 'a' vowel. A single upright stroke, and the first letter of the alphabet.
A short 'a', written as a small stroke above the letter.
A plain 'l'. A tall upright stroke with a curved foot.
A plain 'm'. A small round head with a tail.
A short 'u', written as a small loop above the letter.
A plain 't'. The same body as bāʾ, but with two dots above.
A short 'a', written as a small stroke above the letter.
A 'w', or a long 'u' vowel when it carries no vowel of its own.
A short 'a', written as a small stroke above the letter.
A plain 's'. Three small teeth in a row.
Doubles the letter it sits on; hold the consonant a beat longer.
A short 'i', written as a small stroke below the letter.
An emphatic 't': heavier and deeper than a plain 't'.
What does alba7r alabyad almutawassit mean in Arabizi?
alba7r alabyad almutawassit is how you write الْبَحْر اَلْأَبْيَض اَلْمُتَوَسِّط in Arabizi, the Arabic chat alphabet. It means “the Mediterranean Sea”.
The 7 stands for ح (ḥa): a breathy h, deeper than English h. 7 bends the way ح bends.
For the rest of the chat alphabet, see the Arabizi → Arabic guide. Got it the other way round, with Arabic script to convert? That is the Arabic to Arabizi converter.
The keystrokes, in order.
On a standard Arabic 101 / Arabic-PC layout — 35 key presses. Diacritics sit on the Shift keys. The on-screen keyboard on this site highlights each key as you go.
It sits in the travel & places lesson of our Arabic typing practice course, if you would rather drill it next to the words it turns up with.
Practice typing this word →- 01H→ا
- 02G→ل
- 03Shift+X→ـْ
- 04F→ب
- 05Shift+Q→ـَfatḥa
- 06P→ح
- 07Shift+X→ـْ
- 08V→ر
- 09Space→
- 10H→ا
- 11Shift+Q→ـَfatḥa
- 12G→ل
- 13Shift+X→ـْ
- 14Shift+H→أ
- 15Shift+Q→ـَfatḥa
- 16F→ب
- 17Shift+X→ـْ
- 18D→ي
- 19Shift+Q→ـَfatḥa
- 20Q→ض
- 21Space→
- 22H→ا
- 23Shift+Q→ـَfatḥa
- 24G→ل
- 25Shift+X→ـْ
- 26L→م
- 27Shift+E→ـُḍamma
- 28J→ت
- 29Shift+Q→ـَfatḥa
- 30,→و
- 31Shift+Q→ـَfatḥa
- 32S→س
- 33Shift+`→ـّshadda
- 34Shift+A→ـِkasra
- 35'→ط