How to say "cake" in Arabic
Shifted meaningMeaningcake
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
kaʿkaכעכה
كعكة
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
ugaأُوگَا
How the two words are related
Same root as a Hebrew word, but the meaning drifted over the centuries.
Arabic root
ك-ع-كHebrew root
כ-ע-כDirect match, כ-ע-כ / ك-ع-ك — but the referent drifted. Mishnaic Hebrew כַּעַךְ was a ring-shaped baked good in Roman-era Judea, while Arabic كعكة broadened all the way to 'cake' in general. The plain masculine كَعْك still means the old sesame-crusted ring bread sold from carts in Jerusalem's Old City — the closer match to כעך.
Related Hebrew word:כעךka'akhكَأَخ
Learn it
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
Cairo's cake is kēka (or turta); kaḥk is the Eid cookie.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
Darija says gāṭo (from French gâteau) for cakes and pastries; kīka is heard too.
In a phrase
birthday cake
Plural
sound feminine plural -āt; the unmarked كَعْك is the collective for the ring-shaped bread