How to say "bus" in Arabic
LoanwordMeaningbus
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
بَاص
bāṣבאץ
باص
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
אוטובוס
otobusأُوتُوبُوس
How the two words are related
Loanword
Borrowed between the languages (or by both from a third).
Both are the same clipped European omnibus: Arabic squeezed English bus into an emphatic bāṣ, Hebrew rode the longer autobus. Formal MSA prefers ḥāfila (حافلة), but bāṣ is what the street says.
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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
أُتُوبِيس
utubīsאתוביסCairo's bus is the utubīs (from autobus).
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
طُوبِيس
ṭobīsטוביסDarija clips the same loan to ṭobīs; an intercity coach is a kār.
In a phrase
أَنْتَظِرُ الْبَاص
antaẓiru l-bāṣאנתט'ר אל-באץI am waiting for the bus.
Plural
بَاصَات
bāṣātבאצאתsound feminine plural -āt.