How to say "red" in Arabic
Shifted meaningMeaningred
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
أَحْمَر
aḥmarאחמר
أحمر
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
אדום
adomأَدُوم
How the two words are related
Shifted meaning
Same root as a Hebrew word, but the meaning drifted over the centuries.
Arabic root
ح-م-رHebrew root
ח-מ-רHebrew chamor (חמור) and Arabic ḥimār — 'donkey' in both — are exact cognates, traditionally explained as 'the reddish one' after the animal's red-brown coat — the same ḥ-m-r root as aḥmar. Arabic kept the color word; Hebrew kept only the animal.
Related Hebrew word:חמורkhamorخَامُور
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On the street
How people actually say it in the spoken dialects, where it differs from the standard word.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
حْمر
ḥmerחמרIn a phrase
تُفَّاح أَحْمَر
tuffāḥ aḥmarתפאח אחמרred apples
Plural
حُمْر
ḥumrחמרcolor plural CuCC — all basic colors do this: aḥmar→ḥumr, abyaḍ→bīḍ, aswad→sūd
Feminine
حَمْرَاء
ḥamrāʾחמראא