Arabic Crib Sheet

Once you are outside the centre of downtown Riyadh, you will find that many road signs are written in Arabic only.

And there will come a time, sooner or later, when the particular place you are looking for will be on one of those signposts.

If you cannot follow Arabic script, this could cause you a little 'mushkillah'. Worry not! What follows is a list of the most common place names you are likely to need.

Remember, though, that very often a name will have ‘Al’ - ال - written in front of it – unless the name begins with a vowel in which case it looks like الا. Hence Al Imam is الامام whereas Al Riyadh (pronounced Ar-Riyadh) is الرياض

Abdul Aziz عبدالعزيز

Abdullah عبدالله

Abdul Rahman عبدالرحمن

Batha'a بطحاع

Dammam دمام

Dir'iyyah درعيه

Dirab ديراب

Dirah ديرة

Durma ضرما

Fahd فهد

Faisal فيصل

Ihsa إحساع

Imam امام

Izdihar اخدهار

Khaled خالد

Kharj خرج

King ملك

Khoreis خريص

Makkah المكرمة مكة

Malaz ملز

Manfouha منفوحة

Medinah المنورة مدينة

Mohammed محمد

Murabba مربع

Olaya عليا

Orouba عروبة

Prince / Amir امير

Qasr al Hokm الحكم قصر

Qassim قصيم

Riyadh رياض

Road طريق

Saud سعود

Saudi Arabia السعودية العربية

Suleimaniah سليمانية

Street شارع

Sultan سلطان

Turki تركي

Wazeer وخير