How to say "labneh (strained yogurt)" in Arabic

Shifted meaning

Meaninglabneh (strained yogurt)

Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic

لَبْنَة

labnaלבנה

لبنة

Hebrew · Modern Hebrew

לבנה

labaneلَابَانِي

How the two words are related

Shifted meaning

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

Arabic root

ل-ب-ن

Hebrew root

ל-ב-ן

Same root as laban (see that entry), ל-ב-ן / ل-ب-ن, 'white', branching out differently again. Arabic narrowed labna to the strained yogurt cheese; Hebrew's own build on this root gave לבנה, 'brick' (sun-whitened mudbrick) or 'moon' (the white orb) — never the dairy spread. So when Israeli packaging prints לבנה on a tub of strained yogurt, that is itself a fresh, direct loan of Arabic labna, landing by coincidence of the shared root on an existing Hebrew word with a completely different meaning.

Learn it

Practice the Food & Drink deckQuiz a friend on it

In a phrase

لَبْنَة وَزَعْتَر
labna wa-zaʿtarלבנה וזעתר

labneh and za'atar

More words from this root

More in Food & Drink

All Food & Drink words Explore all root families