How to say "soldier" in Arabic
New wordMeaningsoldier
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
جُنْدِيّ
jundīג'נדי
جندي
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
חייל
khayalخَايَال
How the two words are related
New word
No Hebrew relative — learn it fresh.
From jund 'troop' (an old Iranian loan into Arabic) plus the relational ending -ī — the same job Hebrew's ־ִי does in words like צבאי.
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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
عَسْكَرِي
ʿaskariעסכריCairo's soldier — and its traffic cop — is an ʿaskari.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
عسْكْرِي
ʿaskriעסכריDarija: ʿaskri.
In a phrase
الْجُنْدِيّ فِي الْجَيْش
al-jundī fī l-jayshאל-ג'נדי פי אל-ג'ישThe soldier is in the army.
Plural
جُنُود
junūdג'נודbroken plural CuCūC — like بيت→بيوت (bayt→buyūt)