How to say "Arabic (language)" in Arabic
CognateMeaningArabic (language)
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
al-ʿarabiyyaאל-ערביה
العربية
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
aravitأَرَاڤِيت
How the two words are related
Same Semitic root, same meaning — you already know this word.
Arabic root
ع-ر-بHebrew root
ע-ר-בSame move as ʿivrit: al-ʿarabiyya is simply the feminine adjective of ʿArab, root ע-ר-ב — the root often linked with Hebrew ערבה 'desert plain', and, more to the point, the root of ערבי 'Arab' itself. (Hebrew ערב 'evening' only looks the same: it matches Arabic غروب 'sunset', with غ.) Two languages, two names, one shared root.
Learn it
On the street
How people actually say it in the spoken dialects, where it differs from the standard word.
Levantine · Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria
Final -a softens to -e in casual speech, like most ة-nouns: ʿarabiyye.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
Moroccans call MSA l-ʿerbiya (l-fuṣḥa); their own dialect is d-dārija.
In a phrase
I love the Arabic language