How to say "heel" in Arabic
CognateMeaningheel
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
عَقِب
ʿaqibעקב
عقب
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
עקב
akevأَكِڤ
How the two words are related
Cognate
Same Semitic root, same meaning — you already know this word.
Arabic root
ع-ق-بHebrew root
ע-ק-בʿAqib is עקב, letter for letter. It's baked into Genesis: יַעֲקֹב Yaʿaqov/Yaʿqūb is named for grabbing his twin's עקב/ʿaqib at birth — 'heel-grabber'. The root's other sense survives in both languages too: Arabic ʿāqiba 'consequence, outcome' and Hebrew עקב used as 'because of' — the heel as 'what follows behind'.
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
كَعْب
kaʿbכעבCairo's heel is kaʿb.
In a phrase
عَقِب الْحِذَاء مَكْسُور
ʿaqib al-ḥidhāʾ maksūrעקב אל-חד'אא מכסורThe shoe's heel is broken.
Plural
أَعْقَاب
aʿqābאעקאבbroken plural aCCāC — like باب→أبواب