يعني

See also: یعنی‎

Arabic

Etymology

Non-past of عَنَى‎ (ʿanā, “to mean, to concern”).

Verb

يَعْنِي • (yaʿnī) (form I)

1. third-person masculine singular non-past active indicative of عَنَى‎ (ʿanā)

Interjection

يَعْنِي • (yaʿnī)

1. (adverbial, conjunctive, prepositional, or adjectival) in other words, actually, namely, to wit, kind of, somewhat, id est, that is, meaning, you know
2. (filler) er, so, uh, well

Descendants

• Azerbaijani: yəni
• Bashkir: йәғни (yäğni)
• Hindi: यानी (yānī)
• Indonesian: yakni
• Kalasha: yani
• Kazakh: яғни (yağnï)
• Persian: یعنی‎ / яъне (yaʾne)
• Turkish: yani
• Uzbek: ya'ni
• Urdu: یعنی‎

Verb

يَعْنِيَ • (yaʿniya) (form I)

1. third-person masculine singular non-past active subjunctive of عَنَى‎ (ʿanā)

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Gulf Arabic

Etymology

Non-past of Arabic عَنَى‎ (ʿanā, “to mean, to concern”).

Verb

يعني (transliteration needed)

1. (transitive) [he/she/it] means

Usage notes

• In the past tense, كان معناته is used, which means "its meaning was".

Interjection

يعني (transliteration needed)

1. (adverbial) kind of, somewhat

   ‏كان حلو الفلم ؟
   يعني بس مو وايد .‎‎

   Was the movie good?
   Kind of, but not so much.

Usage notes

• The expression is only used when answering questions.

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North Levantine Arabic

Conjunction

يعني (yaʿni)

1. so

   ‏عملنا اللي فينا نعملو، يعني رح نشوف شو بيصير‎

   ʿMilna lli fīna naʿmlu, yaʿni raḥ nšūf šu biṣīr.

   We’ve done what we could, so we’ll see what happens.

Adverb

يعني (yaʿni)

1. namely; that is; in other words

   ‏لازم نسألو، يعني المعلم‎

   Lāzim nisʾalu, yaʿni li-mʿallim.

   We have to ask him, I mean the teacher.

Interjection

يعني (yaʿni)

1. well; you know; er; uh

   ‏يعني... الموضوع أصعب من هيك‎

   Yaʿni... l-mawḍūʿ ʾaṣʿab min hayk.

   Well... the affair is more complicated than that.

2. kind of; I guess

   ‏كان حلو الفلم؟ — يعني، بس توقعتو أحلى‎

   Kān ḥilu l-film? — Yaʿni, bas twaʾʾaʿtu ʾaḥla.

   Was the film good? — I guess, but I’d expected it to be better.

3. (postpositioned) really; seriously; man; come on; used for emphasis

   ‏ما في فرق كبير. هو نفس الشي تقريبا، يعني‎

   Ma fi fariʾ kbīr. Huwi nafs iš-ši taʾrīban, yaʿni.

   There’s no big difference. It’s roughly the same thing, really.

   ‏هيدا مش معقول، يعني‎

   Hayda miš maʿʾūl, yaʿni.

   This is crazy, man.