How to say "ring" in Arabic
Shifted meaningMeaningring
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
khātamח'אתם
خاتم
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
taba'atتَابَاءَات
How the two words are related
Same root as a Hebrew word, but the meaning drifted over the centuries.
Arabic root
خ-ت-مHebrew root
ח-ת-םA khātam is at heart a signet ring — the thing you seal with — from خ-ت-م 'to seal', the root of Hebrew חותם 'seal' and חתימה 'signature' (Hebrew ח covers both Arabic ح and خ). Both are usually traced back to Egyptian ḫtm: the ring on an Arab finger is the stamp on a Hebrew contract.
Related Hebrew word:חותםkhotamخُوتَام
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 says khātim.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
Darija: khātem.
In a phrase
a gold ring
Plural
broken plural CawāCiC — like جَوْرَب→جَوَارِب