How to say "to eat" in Arabic
CognateMeaningto eat
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
أَكَلَ
akalaאכל
أكل
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
אכל
akhalأَخَال
How the two words are related
Cognate
Same Semitic root, same meaning — you already know this word.
Arabic root
أ-ك-لHebrew root
א-כ-לRoot א-כ-ל matches perfectly: akala = אכל. Arabic akl (food) works exactly like Hebrew אוכל.
Learn it
On the street
How people actually say it in the spoken dialects, where it differs from the standard word.
Egyptian · Cairo and the Nile Delta
كَل
kalכלCairo often clips it to kal (also akal): kalt ēh? — 'what did you eat?'
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
كْلَا
klaכלאDarija: kla; klīt — 'I ate'; kul! — 'eat!'
In a phrase
أَكَلَ الْخُبْز
akala al-khubzאכל אל-ח'בזHe ate the bread