Languages of Egypt Languages of Egypt There are a number of languages spoken in Egypt, but Egyptian Arabic or "Masry" which literally means "Egyptian", is by far the most widely spoken in the country. The official language of Egypt is Modern Standard Arabic. Arabic came to Egypt in the 7th century, and Egyptian Arabic has become the modern spoken language of the Egyptians, is understood by almost all Egyptians and is based on Egyptian Coptic grammar. In southern Egypt, Saidi Arabic is the main spoken language for most non-urbanized people. Of the many varieties of Arabic, Egyptian Arabic is the most widely understood
Coptic language Coptic language Coptic, or Coptic Egyptian (Bohairic: "ti.met.rem.ən.kēmi" and Sahidic: "t.mənt.rəm.ən.kēme"), is the latest stage of the Egyptian language, a northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century as an official language. Egyptian began to be written in the Coptic alphabet, an adaptation of the Greek alphabet with the addition of six or seven signs from Demotic to represent Egyptian sounds the Greek language did not have, in the 1st century AD. Several distinct Coptic dialects are identified, the most prominent of which are "Sahidic", originating in parts of Upper Egypt, and "Bohairic", originally from the