How to say "bald" in Arabic
New wordMeaningbald
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
أَقْرَع
aqraʿאקרע
أقرع
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
קירח
kereakhكِرِيَاخ
How the two words are related
New word
No Hebrew relative — learn it fresh.
Arabic root
ق-ر-عTempting, but not real: ع regularly lines up with Hebrew ע, which would give קרע — 'tear, rip', not קרח. קרח 'bald' (also 'ice') is a coincidental look-alike; the sound match hides a broken correspondence, a good trap to know before falling into it.
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
أَقْرَع
aʾraʿאארעCairo turns the qāf into a glottal stop: aʾraʿ.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
فرْطَاس
ferṭāsפרטאסDarija's bald is ferṭās.
In a phrase
رَجُل أَقْرَع
rajul aqraʿרג'ל אקרעa bald man
Feminine
قَرْعَاء
qarʿāʾקרעאא