How to say "kidney" in Arabic
CognateMeaningkidney
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
كُلْيَة
kulyaכליה
كلية
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
כליה
kilyaكِلْيَا
How the two words are related
Cognate
Same Semitic root, same meaning — you already know this word.
Arabic root
ك-ل-يHebrew root
כ-ל-יKulya is כליה, nearly letter for letter. Biblical Hebrew already used כליות figuratively for the innermost self — 'kidneys and heart' (כְּלָיוֹת וָלֵב) as the seat of conscience — a metaphor Arabic kulya never picked up, but the anatomical core word is the same one.
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
كِلْوَة
kilwaכלוהCairo says kilwa.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
كلْوَة
kelwaכלוהDarija: kelwa.
In a phrase
فَشَل كُلْوِيّ
fashal kulwiyyפשל כלויkidney failure
Plural
كُلًى
kulanכלאirregular plural — the weak final root letter drops