How to say "lunch" in Arabic
New wordMeaninglunch
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
غَدَاء
ghadāʾע'דאא
غداء
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
ארוחת צהריים
arukhat tsohorayimأَرُوخَات تْسُوهُورَايِم
How the two words are related
New word
No Hebrew relative — learn it fresh.
Arabic root
غ-د-وNo Hebrew relative, but a nice trap within Arabic itself: غَدَاء (ghadāʾ, 'lunch') sounds almost identical to غَدًا (ghadan, 'tomorrow') — both grow from the same root غ-د-و, 'to set out at daybreak'. Context, not the vowels, tells them apart in fast speech.
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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
غَدَا
ghadaע'דאCairo: ghada, final hamza dropped; itghadda — 'he had lunch'.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
غْدَا
ghdaע'דאDarija: l-ghda; tghedda — 'he had lunch'.
In a phrase
مَوْعِد الْغَدَاء
mawʿid al-ghadāʾמועד אלע'דאאlunchtime