The Judeo-Arabic languages (, ) are a continuum of Arabic dialects spoken by Jews living or formerly living in the Arab world; the term also refers more or less to Classical Arabic written in the Hebrew script, particularly in the Middle Ages. Just as with the rest of the Arab world, Jews had different dialects depending on where they lived. This phenomenon may be compared to cases such as different forms of Yiddish such as Western Yiddish and Eastern Yiddish, or forms of Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) in areas such as the Balkans, Thessaloníki/Istanbul, Morocco, etc. Many significant Jewish works, including a number of religious writings by Maimonides and Judah Halevi, were originally written in Judeo-Arabic, as this was the primary colloquial language of their authors.