How to say "elephant" in Arabic
LoanwordMeaningelephant
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
فِيل
fīlפיל
فيل
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
פִּיל
pilپِيل
How the two words are related
Loanword
Borrowed between the languages (or by both from a third).
Arabic root
ف-ي-لFīl and pil are the same ancient wanderwort for elephant that traveled across the pre-classical Near East (compare Greek elephas) — not inherited Proto-Semitic vocabulary, but a shared borrowing, quite possibly via Aramaic.
Learn it
In a phrase
فِيل كَبِير
fīl kabīrפיל כבירa big elephant
Plural
أَفْيَال
afyālאפיאלbroken plural CaCCāC