خي

From a diminutive of Arabic أَخ‎ (ʔaḵ). Compare also بي‎ (bayy, “father”) vis-à-vis Arabic أَب‎ (ʔab).

خي • (ḵayy) m (plural إخوة‎ (ʔiḵwe) or إخوات‎ (ʔiḵwāt), feminine إخت‎ (ʔiḵt))

1. (Lebanon) brother

   Synonym: أخ‎ (ʔaḵḵ)

• Curiously, خيات‎ (ḵayyāt) is only a valid plural of إخت‎ (ʔiḵt, “sister”), even though the rhyming word بي‎ (bayy, “father”) takes the plural بيات‎ (bayyāt).

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

خي • (ḵayy)

1. relief! (expressing pleasure with a sudden absence of stress or noise)
   • 2005, Stavro Jabra, التمثيل الناقص [The missing representative]‎, Lebanon, archived from the original on 2019-11-11:

     ‏خَيّْ... خلصنا من أَول جنرال...‎‎

     ḵayy... ḵluṣna min ʾawwal jinirāl...

     Thank goodness... we've gotten rid of the first general...