How to say "to cry" in Arabic
CognateMeaningto cry
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
بَكَى
bakāבכא
بكى
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
בכה
bakhaبَاخَا
How the two words are related
Cognate
Same Semitic root, same meaning — you already know this word.
Arabic root
ب-ك-يHebrew root
ב-כ-הRoot ב-כ-ה / ب-ك-ي straight across: bakā = בכה. Arabic bukāʾ (weeping) parallels Hebrew בכי.
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
عَيَّط
ʿayyaṭעיטCairo's everyday 'to cry' is ʿayyaṭ — a verb that in the Levant means 'to shout'.
In a phrase
بَكَى الطِّفْل
bakā aṭ-ṭiflבכא א-טפלThe baby cried