How to say "barber" in Arabic
Shifted meaningMeaningbarber
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
حَلَّاق
ḥallāqחלאק
حلاق
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
ספר
saparسَاپَار
How the two words are related
Shifted meaning
Same root as a Hebrew word, but the meaning drifted over the centuries.
Arabic root
ح-ل-قHebrew root
ח-ל-קHedge, but a nice one: ḥalaqa 'to shave' is regularly matched with Hebrew ח-ל-ק 'smooth' (חלק) — a freshly shaved face is, after all, חלק. Hebrew's everyday word for barber, ספר, is unrelated (it comes from ס-פ-ר in its haircutting sense, the root of מספריים 'scissors').
Related Hebrew word:חלקkhalakخَالَاك
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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
حجَّام
ḥajjāmחג'אםDarija's barber is a ḥajjām — originally the cupper, who also cut hair.
In a phrase
الْحَلَّاق فِي الْمَحَلّ
al-ḥallāq fī l-maḥallאל-חלאק פי אל-מחלThe barber is in the shop.
Plural
حَلَّاقُون
ḥallāqūnחלאקוןsound masculine plural -ūn
Feminine
حَلَّاقَة
ḥallāqaחלאקה