How to say "calculator" in Arabic
CognateMeaningcalculator
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
āla ḥāsibaאלה חאסבה
آلة حاسبة
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
makhshevonمَاخْشِڤُون
How the two words are related
Same Semitic root, same meaning — you already know this word.
Arabic root
ح-س-بHebrew root
ח-ש-בSame reckoning root as ḥāsūb, 'computer' (already in this app): ḥāsiba is the active participle of ḥasaba, 'to count, calculate' — exactly Hebrew ח-ש-ב, behind חישב and מחשבון. Two different word patterns, one root, one idea in both languages: a calculator is simply 'the thing that counts.'
Learn it
In a phrase
I used the calculator.
Plural
sound feminine plural -āt on āla; ḥāsiba stays singular feminine (non-human plural agreement).
The root family
ح-س-بח-ש-ב· reckoning
One counting root, two careers: Hebrew ח-ש-ב drifted from reckoning to thinking (חשב), while Arabic stayed at the ledger — ḥisāb is your restaurant bill, exactly חשבון. Then both modern languages, coining a word for computer, reached for the very same root: Hebrew built מחשב, Arabic built ḥāsūb.
- حِسَاب ḥisābbill, account, arithmeticחֶשְׁבּוֹןbill, account
- حَسَبَ ḥasabahe counted, calculatedחָשַׁבhe thought — counting turned inward
- حَاسُوب ḥāsūbcomputerמַחְשֵׁבcomputer — same root, same century
- حَاسِبَة ḥāsibacalculator (āla ḥāsiba)
- مُحَاسِب muḥāsibaccountant
- حَسَب ḥasabaccording to (bi-ḥasab)