How to say "center" in Arabic
LoanwordMeaningcenter
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
مَرْكَز
markazמרכז
مركز
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
מרכז
merkazمِرْكَاز
How the two words are related
Loanword
Borrowed between the languages (or by both from a third).
Arabic root
ر-ك-زHebrew מרכז and Arabic مركز are spelled with the identical root letters (ر↔ר, ك↔כ, ز↔ז) — but this isn't inherited kinship, it's medieval borrowing. Hebrew picked up markaz as a philosophical and geometric term ('the center of a circle') during the Judeo-Arabic translation movement, and modern Hebrew simply kept it, spelling and all.
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In a phrase
مَرْكَز الْمَدِينَة
markaz al-madīnaמרכז אל-מדינהthe center of the city
Plural
مَرَاكِز
marākizמראכזbroken plural maCāCiC — like مَكْتَب→مَكَاتِب