Merry Christmas in Arabic
عيد ميلاد مجيد
Eid milad majid
Say it like this: eed mee-LAHD mah-JEED
Big letters show the part to say louder.
Quick answer
- In Arabic, Merry Christmas is عيد ميلاد مجيد (Eid milad majid), said like eed mee-LAHD mah-JEED.
- Happy New Year is سنة جديدة سعيدة (Sana jadida saeeda).
- People say it in Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine and more.
What Eid milad majid means
'Eid' means feast or festival, 'milad' means birth, and 'majid' means glorious. So it is 'Glorious Birth Feast'.
Arabic is written from right to left, and most letters join to the next one in a word.
Other ways to say it in Arabic
ميلاد مجيد
Milad majid
Say it like this: mee-LAHD mah-JEED
A shorter form, meaning "glorious birth".
كل عام وأنتم بخير
Kull aam wa antum bi-khayr
Say it like this: kull AHM wa AN-tum bi-KHAYR
Means "may you be well every year". A warm all-purpose holiday wish heard at Christmas, Eid and New Year.
Happy New Year
سنة جديدة سعيدة
Sana jadida saeeda
Say it like this: SAH-nah jah-DEE-dah sah-EE-dah
Happy New Year (literally "a new, happy year")
Where people speak Arabic
LebanonEgyptJordanPalestineSyriaIraq
Arabic (العربية) belongs to the Afroasiatic (Semitic) language family.
Hear it from Rally on Christmas Eve
On Christmas Eve, Rally the corgi rides the Christmas Train around the world. He reaches Cairo at about 12:08 AM local time, then visits Riyadh, Dubai, Muscat, and kids learn to say عيد ميلاد مجيد as he lands.
Watch Rally arrive in Cairo →Christmas traditions where people speak Arabic
- Coptic Christmas on January 7: Coptic Christians in Egypt celebrate Christmas on January 7, a public holiday. After a long fast, they attend a midnight service, then share a big meal that often includes fatta, a dish of rice, bread and meat, along with sweet biscuits called kahk.[3][4]
- Christmas in Lebanon: Lebanon has a large Christian community and Christmas on December 25 is an official holiday. Families share a Christmas Eve feast, go to midnight Mass, and children expect gifts from Baba Noël, the Lebanese name for Santa.[3][5]
- Three Christmases in Bethlehem: In Bethlehem, where Jesus was born, different churches celebrate on different dates. Catholics and many Protestants celebrate on December 24 and 25, the Orthodox on January 6 and 7, and Armenians in mid-January.[3]
🎄 Quick game: Merry Christmas in Arabic
Three quick questions for kids. Tap an answer to play.
Say Merry Christmas in more languages
- Hebrewחג מולד שמח
- TurkishMutlu Noeller
- Persian (Farsi)کریسمس مبارک
- Marathiनाताळच्या शुभेच्छा
- TonganKilisimasi fiefia
- Japaneseメリークリスマス
- Scottish GaelicNollaig Chridheil
- HungarianBoldog karácsonyt
Questions parents ask
How do you say Merry Christmas in Arabic?
The most common way is عيد ميلاد مجيد, said "Eid milad majid" (eed mee-LAHD mah-JEED). A shorter form is ميلاد مجيد. Many people also say كل عام وأنتم بخير (Kull aam wa antum bi-khayr), a warm wish used at Christmas and other holidays.[1][2]
How do you pronounce Eid milad majid?
Say "eed mee-LAHD mah-JEED". Eid sounds like the English word eed with a long ee. In milad, stress the second part, LAHD. In majid, the j sounds like the j in jeep, and the stress is on JEED. Pronunciation of the j changes in some dialects, like Egyptian, where it is a hard g.[1]
What does Eid milad majid mean?
Eid means feast or festival, milad means birth, and majid means glorious. Together, the phrase means Glorious Birth Feast, a way of saying Merry Christmas. The word milad also appears in the Arabic name for Christmas, Eid al-Milad, which means the Feast of the Birth.[1][4]
How do you write Merry Christmas in Arabic?
Write it from right to left as عيد ميلاد مجيد. Arabic letters join together inside a word, and short vowels are usually not written. There are no capital letters. The romanized form, Eid milad majid, is only a guide to sound, so you may see slightly different spellings online.[1]
How do you say Happy New Year in Arabic?
Say سنة جديدة سعيدة (Sana jadida saeeda), meaning Happy New Year. Another common wish is كل عام وأنتم بخير (Kull aam wa antum bi-khayr), literally "may you be well every year". A shorter option is عام سعيد (Aam saeed), meaning a happy year. Arab Christians use these on January 1, often right after their Christmas greetings.[2]
Is there a formal way to say Merry Christmas in Arabic?
عيد ميلاد مجيد is polite for everyone, so there is no special formal version to learn. Adding كل عام وأنتم بخير, a warm all-purpose holiday wish, makes a card feel more complete. Among Christians, the same phrases are used in church and at home, and a gentle, friendly tone matters more than the exact wording.[1]
When do people say Eid milad majid?
Christians say it on Christmas Day. In Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Palestine and Iraq, many celebrate on December 25. In Egypt, most Christians are Coptic and celebrate on January 7. Muslim neighbors and friends often say it too, as a polite way to wish their Christian friends well.[3][4]
Is Christmas Eve or Christmas Day the main celebration in Arabic-speaking places?
It depends on the church. In Lebanon, families share a feast on Christmas Eve and go to midnight Mass. For Coptic Christians in Egypt, the Christmas Eve service is on January 6 and Christmas Day is January 7, a public holiday. Christians are a minority in most Arab countries.[3][4][5]
What is a popular Christmas tradition in Arabic-speaking countries?
Many Christian families share a special Christmas meal and attend a midnight service. In Egypt, Coptic families end a long fast with a feast that often includes fatta, a dish of rice, bread and meat, and they bake sweet biscuits called kahk. In Lebanon, children look forward to Baba Noël, and nativity scenes are common in homes and churches.[4][5][3]
How can I teach kids to say Eid milad majid?
Say it in three rhythmic chunks: eed, mee-LAHD, mah-JEED. Kids can trace the Arabic letters from right to left. Explain that in many Arab countries Christians are a minority, and different communities celebrate on different dates. Make a card and add the phrase.[1][3]
A bedtime story after seeing SantaRally Takes the Train is a five-minute rhyming picture book about a corgi’s first train ride, hand-painted in real watercolor by Leslie Dunn. $16.99 on Amazon, ages 0 to 8.
Buy on AmazonSources
We check every greeting against dictionaries, language institutes and cultural sources.
- merry Christmas (translations), Wiktionary
- happy New Year (translations), Wiktionary
- Observance of Christmas by country, Wikipedia
- Christmas in Egypt, WhyChristmas.com
- Christmas in Lebanon, WhyChristmas.com
