// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did Judeo-Yemeni Arabic say to its friend? Let's Hebrew together.

Judeo-Yemeni Arabic
Yemenite Judeo-Arabic
Native to	Israel, Yemen
Ethnicity	Yemenite Jews
Native speakers	38,000 (2010–2018)
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic Central Semitic Arabic languages Peninsular Yemeni Arabic Judeo-Yemeni Arabic
Writing system	Hebrew alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3	jye
Glottolog	jude1267
ELP	Judeo-Yemeni Arabic

Judeo-Yemeni Arabic (also known as Judeo-Yemeni and Yemenite Judeo-Arabic) is a variety of Arabic spoken by Jews from Yemen. The language is written in the Hebrew alphabet. The cities of Sana'a, Aden, al-Bayda, and Habban District and the villages in their districts each have their own dialect.

The vast majority of Yemenite Jews have relocated to Israel and have shifted to Hebrew as their first language. In 1995, Israel was home to 50,000 speakers of Judeo-Yemeni in 1995. It is rarely spoken by the younger generation of Yemenite Jewish Israelis, but is used in artistic performances, for example by the musical group A-WA.

In 1995, 1,000 Jews remained in Yemen, and according to Yemeni rabbi al-Marhabi, most of them have since left for the United States. In 2010, fewer than 300 Jews were believed to remain in Yemen. As of 2022, only one Jew is believed to remain in Yemen.

See also

• Judeo-Arabic languages

Further reading

• Shachmon, Ori (2013-08-01). "Judeo-Arabic, Yemen, Hebrew Component in". In Khan, Geoffrey (ed.). Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics. Vol. 2. Leiden: Brill. p. 402. ISBN 978-90-04-17642-3. Archived from the original on 2023-04-12.
• Shachmon, Ori (2013-08-01). "Secret Languages, Hebrew in: Yemenite Judeo-Arabic". In Khan, Geoffrey (ed.). Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics. Vol. 3. Leiden: Brill. p. 518. ISBN 978-90-04-17642-3. Archived from the original on 2023-04-12.
• Wexler, Paul (1981). "Jewish Interlinguistics: Facts and Conceptual Framework". Language. 57 (1): 99–149. doi:10.2307/414288. ISSN 0097-8507.
• Piamenta, M. (1990). A dictionary of post-classical Yemeni Arabic. Leiden ; New York: E.J. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-09294-5.
• Goitein, Shelomo Dov (1960). "The Language of Al-Gades: The Main Characteristics of an Arabic Dialect Spoken in Lower Yemen: Aim and Nature of This Study,". Le Muséon (73): 351–394.