How to say "well (for water)" in Arabic
CognateMeaningwell (for water)
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
biʾrבאר
بئر
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
be'erبِئِر
How the two words are related
Same Semitic root, same meaning — you already know this word.
Arabic root
ب-أ-رHebrew root
ב-א-רHebrew באר and Arabic biʾr are the identical ancient word for a water well — same three root letters, same aleph/hamza in the middle, straight through from Beersheba's בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע to any biʾr in the desert.
Learn it
On the street
How people actually say it in the spoken dialects, where it differs from the standard word.
Levantine · Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria
Levantine drops the hamza: bīr.
Egyptian · Cairo and the Nile Delta
Cairo drops the hamza too: bīr.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
Darija: bīr.
In a phrase
a deep well
Plural
broken plural — the two hamzas of the root fuse into the alif madda (آ)