How to say "water" in Arabic

Cognate

Meaningwater

Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic

مَاء

māʾמאא

ماء

Hebrew · Modern Hebrew

מים

mayimمَايِم

How the two words are related

Cognate

Same Semitic root, same meaning — you already know this word.

Arabic root

م-و-ه

Both descend from the Proto-Semitic water word *māy-. Hebrew מים wears a plural ending; Arabic hardened the final glide into a hamza: māʾ.

How people actually say it in the spoken dialects, where it differs from the standard word.

Levantine · Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria

مَيّ

mayyמי

Spoken Levantine says mayy — even closer to Hebrew מים.

Egyptian · Cairo and the Nile Delta

مَيَّة

mayyaמיה

Cairo: mayya.

Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes

مَا

māמא

Darija: l-mā, the hamza gone.

مَاء بَارِد

māʾ bāridמאא בארד

cold water