How to say "office" in Arabic
Shifted meaningMeaningoffice
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
maktabמכתב
مكتب
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
misradمِسْرَاد
How the two words are related
Same root as a Hebrew word, but the meaning drifted over the centuries.
Arabic root
ك-ت-بHebrew root
כ-ת-בThe root is Hebrew's כ-ת-ב 'write' with the identical ma- place pattern — but Hebrew מכתב is the letter you write, while Arabic maktab is the desk or office you write it at.
Related Hebrew word:מכתבmikhtavمِخْتَاڤ
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In a phrase
I work at the office
Plural
broken plural maCāCiC — like مَسْجِد→مَسَاجِد
The root family
ك-ت-بכ-ת-ב· writing
The Semitic writing root, shared letter for letter: kataba is כתב. Both languages pour it into the same molds but sometimes swap the results — Arabic maktab is the office or desk, while Hebrew מכתב is the letter you would write there. From books (kitāb) to addresses (כתובת), each language wandered its own way from the same act of writing.
- كَتَبَ katabahe wroteכָּתַבhe wrote
- كِتَاب kitābbookכְּתָבwriting, script
- مَكْتَب maktaboffice, deskמִכְתָּבa letter — same shape, swapped meaning!
- مَكْتَبَة maktabalibrary, bookshopמַכְתֵּבָהwriting desk
- كَاتِب kātibwriter, clerkכּוֹתֵבone who writes
- مَكْتُوب maktūbwritten; fated ("it is written")כָּתוּבwritten