How to say "disagreement, difference" in Arabic

Shifted meaning

Meaningdisagreement, difference

Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic

خِلَاف

khilāfח'לאף

خلاف

Hebrew · Modern Hebrew

מחלוקת

makhloketمَاخْلُوكِت

How the two words are related

Shifted meaning

Same root as a Hebrew word, but the meaning drifted over the centuries.

Arabic root

خ-ل-ف

Hebrew root

ח-ל-ף

Arabic خ-ل-ف means "to come after, succeed, take another's place" — خَلِيفَة khalīfa, "caliph," is literally "successor," and خِلاف is "disagreement" — people who come after tend to see things differently. The matching Hebrew root is ח-ל-ף, but it drifted elsewhere: חילוף is an "exchange," תחליף a "substitute." Hebrew's everyday word for disagreement, מחלוקת, is unrelated — a different root about splitting things into shares (חלק).

Related Hebrew word:חילוףkhilufخِيلُوف

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In a phrase

لَدَيْنَا خِلَاف
ladaynā khilāfלדינא ח'לאף

We have a disagreement.

Plural

خِلَافَات
khilāfātח'לאפאת

sound feminine plural -āt

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