How to say "orange" in Arabic
New wordMeaningorange
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
بُرْتُقَال
burtuqālברתקאל
برتقال
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
תפוז
tapuzتَاپُوز
How the two words are related
New word
No Hebrew relative — learn it fresh.
No Hebrew relative — but a fun etymology on its own: burtuqāl comes from 'Portugal', since Portuguese traders introduced the sweet orange to the Eastern Mediterranean. Modern Hebrew תפוז is homegrown, a 20th-century blend of תפוח (fruit/apple) and זהב (gold).
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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
بُرْتُقَان
burtuʾānברתאאןCairo: burtuʾān — the l becomes n and the qāf a glottal stop.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
لِيمُون
līmūnלימוןDarija's orange is līmūn (a lemon is ḥāmeḍ) — a classic false friend.
In a phrase
بُرْتُقَال حُلْو
burtuqāl ḥulwברתקאל חלוa sweet orange