How to say "mistake, error" in Arabic
Shifted meaningMeaningmistake, error
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
khaṭaʾח'טא
خطأ
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
ta'utتَاؤُوت
How the two words are related
Same root as a Hebrew word, but the meaning drifted over the centuries.
Arabic root
خ-ط-أHebrew root
ח-ט-אSame root as this app's 'sin' entry (خَطِيئَة/חטא, ח-ט-א): khaṭaʾ is simply the everyday word for an error, no religious weight attached, while khaṭīʾa is the sin. Hebrew put its cognate root entirely in the religious basket — חטא now means only 'sin' — so today's Hebrew word for an ordinary mistake, טעות, comes from an unrelated root.
Related Hebrew word:חטאkhetخِت
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
A different word: Cairo says ghalaṭ (or ghalṭa) for a mistake.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
A different word: ghelṭa is the Darija mistake.
In a phrase
This is a mistake.
Plural
broken plural afʿāl-pattern.