عديم الاصل (Adeem el asl)

/ʕæˈdiːm el ˈʔæsˤl/insult

What does عديم الاصل (Adeem el asl) mean? عديم الاصل (Adeem el asl) is a Arabic moderate that translates to “lowborn / no-name / classless nobody” in English.

without origin / without roots

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"lowborn / no-name / classless nobody"

'Asl' in Arabic means origin, root, stock, pedigree. Being 'adeem el asl' (without origin) says you have no family of note, no tribe, no lineage, no pedigree worth claiming. In the tribal genealogy system that still underpins much of Arab social life, having no asl means you literally don't exist in the social register.

واحد عديم الأصل، ما حد يعرف من وين جاي. (Wahed adeem el asl, ma had ya'ref min wein jay. - A rootless nobody, no one knows where he came from.) — Gossip about an outsider.