Azizan
Arabic words for grandma, grandpa, aunt and uncle, by dialect
In Standard Arabic a grandmother is jadda (جدّة) and a grandfather jadd (جدّ); in everyday Levantine and Egyptian speech children say teta (تيتا) for grandma, and in the Levant jiddo (جدّو) or sidi (سيدي) for grandpa. Aunts and uncles are named by side of the family in every dialect: ʿamm (عمّ) and ʿamma (عمّة) are your father's brother and sister, khāl (خال) and khāla (خالة) your mother's. This page lists only words we verified in three or more independent sources on 19 October 2026; it covers Standard, Levantine and Egyptian Arabic, and says plainly which dialects it does not yet cover. Azizan (azizan.app), founded by Aida Fard, is a family storytelling app where relatives record themselves on video reading illustrated children's stories page by page. Its stories are in Persian today; it has no Arabic stories. This page is a free guide for Arabic-speaking families, written in our own words from sources we opened and checked.
Azizan (azizan.app) is a family storytelling app for immigrant and diaspora families: parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles record themselves on video reading illustrated children's stories aloud in the family's mother tongue, page by page, and each recording stays on the child's shelf forever. Real family voices — never AI narration. Persian (Farsi) first.
Grandparents
| English | Standard Arabic | Levantine (Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan) | Egyptian |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grandmother | جدّة jadda | جدّة jidde | جدّة gidda |
| Grandma (what a child says) | — | تيتا teta (Tripoli: tayta); ستّي sitti, always with "my" | تيتة teta |
| Grandfather | جدّ jadd | جدّ jidd | جدّ gidd |
| Grandpa (what a child says) | — | جدّو jiddo (Lebanon, Syria); سيدي sidi (Palestine, Jordan) | not verified yet, see below |
The standard words are understood everywhere. Teta is the child's word in both the Levant and Egypt; the sources we opened agree on that. Sitti is always said with the "my" ending. For grandpa the Levant splits: Lebanese and Syrian families say jiddo, Palestinian and Jordanian families more often sidi. Families also keep their own pet names, and the word that matters is the one your child's grandmother answers to.
Aunts and uncles: mother's side and father's side
| Relative | Arabic | Say it like |
|---|---|---|
| Father's brother (paternal uncle) | عمّ | ʿamm |
| Father's sister (paternal aunt) | عمّة | ʿamma (Levantine ʿamme) |
| Mother's brother (maternal uncle) | خال | khāl |
| Mother's sister (maternal aunt) | خالة | khāla (Levantine khāle) |
These four words are the same in Standard Arabic, Levantine and Egyptian; only the vowel at the end shifts. English has one "aunt" and one "uncle", so this is the distinction children raised abroad most often lose. The sources we opened also note that ʿamm doubles as an everyday way to address an older man who is not a relative. Persian makes the same four-way split with different words, which we list on the Persian family-words page.
What is not on this page, and why
- Iraqi, Gulf, Moroccan, Algerian and Tunisian words. We could not open three independent sources that give the Arabic for any of them today. A university dialect-comparison site has recordings for Iraqi, Bahraini and the Maghreb, but no text. Rather than copy forum spellings that disagree, we left these dialects out until native speakers check them.
- The Egyptian pet name for grandpa (giddu) and the child-address forms ending in -o (ʿammo, khālo, ʿamto, khālto, sitto). Each appeared in two of our sources, not three. They are not in the tables above for that reason only.
- Borrowed words such as tante and uncle, used in some families for any older adult. Real, but not kinship words.
If you speak one of the missing dialects and can point us to a printed source, we will add it.
Teaching the words to a child abroad
- Put a face to each word. A photo or a video call, and one sentence: "this is khālto". One fixed word per person; a child learns a name faster when it does not change.
- Let the relative say it. A grandmother who says "I am your teta" in her own voice teaches the word and the love at once.
- Use the words in stories. In the Juha tales there is a son and a neighbour; in the she-goat tale a mother; a reader can add "like your jiddo" without changing the tale.
- Do not test. A child who answers in English is still listening.
On Azizan a relative records themselves reading an illustrated story page by page and it stays on the child's shelf, so the child hears the family words from the person they belong to. That exists for Persian today; the method is the same for Arabic with any book and a phone. More: how to teach Arabic to kids abroad.
Related guides
- How to teach Arabic to your kids abroad
- Arabic bedtime stories for kids: classics by age
- Why kids abroad lose Arabic, and what helps
- Apps for grandparents to read stories to grandkids abroad, compared
- Why immigrant kids lose their mother tongue, and what helps
Questions
What is grandma in Arabic?
Standard Arabic: jadda (جدّة). What children say: teta (تيتا) in the Levant and Egypt, and sitti (ستّي, "my lady") in the Levant. Families also use their own pet names.
What is grandpa in Arabic?
Standard Arabic: jadd (جدّ). In the Levant children say jiddo (جدّو) in Lebanon and Syria and sidi (سيدي) in Palestine and Jordan. We have not yet verified the Egyptian pet form in three sources, so we do not list it.
What is the difference between teta and sitti?
Both mean grandma in spoken Levantine Arabic. Teta is a child's word; sitti carries the possessive ending and is always said with "my". Which one a family uses varies by country and family, not by which side of the family the grandmother is on.
Does Arabic have one word for aunt and uncle like English?
No. Arabic names the side of the family: ʿamm and ʿamma are your father's brother and sister, khāl and khāla your mother's. The four words are the same across Standard, Levantine and Egyptian Arabic.
Are these words the same in Iraqi, Gulf or Moroccan Arabic?
The standard words and the four aunt and uncle words are understood everywhere, but the everyday grandparent names differ, and we could not verify the Iraqi, Gulf or Maghrebi forms in three independent sources today, so this page does not list them. Ask your own relatives which word they use.
How do I teach my child to use the right word for each relative?
Pair the word with the person (a photo or a call), use one fixed word per person, and let the relatives say it themselves. A recorded story in a grandparent's own voice lets the child hear the word from that person every night.
Open Azizan — record a story for your childUpdated: 2026-11-03 · By Aida Fard
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