Judeo-Arabic dialects

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Judeo-Arabic
ערביה יהודיה
A page from the Cairo Geniza, part of which is written in the Judeo-Arabic language
Ethnicity	Mizrahi Jews from North Africa and the Fertile Crescent
Native speakers	240,000 (2022)[1]
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic West Semitic Central Semitic Arabic Judeo-Arabic
Early forms	Old Arabic Classical Arabic
Writing system	Hebrew alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-2	jrb
ISO 639-3	jrb – inclusive code Individual codes: yhd – Judeo-Iraqi Arabic aju – Judeo-Moroccan Arabic yud – Judeo-Tripolitanian Arabic jye – Judeo-Yemeni Arabic
Glottolog	None

This article contains Hebrew text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Hebrew letters.

Judeo-Arabic dialects (Judeo-Arabic: ערביה יהודיה, romanized: ‘Arabiya Yahūdiya; Arabic: عربية يهودية, romanized: ʿArabiya Yahūdiya (listen)^ⓘ; Hebrew: ערבית יהודית, romanized: ‘Aravít Yehudít (listen)^ⓘ) are ethnolects formerly spoken by Jews throughout the Arab world.^[2] Under the ISO 639 international standard for language codes, Judeo-Arabic is classified as a macrolanguage under the code jrb, encompassing four languages: Judeo-Moroccan Arabic (aju), Judeo-Yemeni Arabic (jye), Judeo-Iraqi Arabic (yhd), and Judeo-Tripolitanian Arabic (yud).^[3][4]

Judeo-Arabic can also refer to Classical Arabic written in the Hebrew script, particularly in the Middle Ages.

Many significant Jewish works, including a number of religious writings by Saadia Gaon, Maimonides and Judah Halevi, were originally written in Judeo-Arabic, as this was the primary vernacular language of their authors.