How to say "priest" in Arabic
Shifted meaningMeaningpriest
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
كَاهِن
kāhinכאהן
كاهن
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
כהן
kohenكُوهِن
How the two words are related
Shifted meaning
Same root as a Hebrew word, but the meaning drifted over the centuries.
Arabic root
ك-ه-نHebrew root
כ-ה-ןכהן and kāhin are the same root, but pre-Islamic Arabia had no priesthood to speak of — a kāhin there was a soothsayer or oracle, not a temple official. Islam narrowed the word further, toward 'fortune-teller,' while Hebrew כהן kept the formal priestly office.
Related Hebrew word:כהןkohenكُوهِن
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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
قَسِّيس
ʾassīsאסיסCairo's priest is il-ʾassīs, or simply abūna, our father.
In a phrase
كَاهِن الْمَعْبَد
kāhin al-maʿbadכאהן אל-מעבדthe temple priest
Plural
كَهَنَة
kahanaכהנהbroken plural CaCaCa