How to say "dress" in Arabic
New wordMeaningdress
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
فُسْتَان
fustānפסתאן
فستان
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
שמלה
simlaسِمْلَا
How the two words are related
New word
No Hebrew relative — learn it fresh.
An Ottoman-era loan: Turkish fistan, itself from Greek φουστάνι, ultimately Italian fustagno 'fustian cloth' — a fabric name tradition links to Fustat, Old Cairo. Hebrew kept the biblical שמלה, so the two never met.
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On the street
How people actually say it in the spoken dialects, where it differs from the standard word.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
كسْوَة
keswaכסוהDarija's dress is a keswa — MSA's word for clothing in general.
In a phrase
فُسْتَان جَمِيل
fustān jamīlפסתאן ג'מילa beautiful dress
Plural
فَسَاتِين
fasātīnפסאתיןbroken plural CaCāCīC — like بَنْطَلُون→بَنَاطِيل