How to say "hinge" in Arabic
Shifted meaningMeaninghinge
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
مِفْصَل
mifṣalמפצל
مفصل
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
ציר
tsirتْسِير
How the two words are related
Shifted meaning
Same root as a Hebrew word, but the meaning drifted over the centuries.
Arabic root
ف-ص-لHebrew root
פ-צ-לHebrew's actual word for hinge, ציר, is unrelated. But Arabic's root here, ف-ص-ل ('to separate, divide, articulate' — the same root behind فصل 'chapter, season'), matches Hebrew פ-צ-ל letter for letter and lives on in לְפַצֵּל, 'to split, fork, branch off.' A mifṣal — also Arabic's word for an anatomical joint — is 'the place where things divide,' the same idea Hebrew's own root points to, just applied to a different piece of hardware.
Related Hebrew word:פצלpitselپِتْسِل
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In a phrase
صَرَّ الْبَاب عِنْد الْمِفْصَل
ṣarra al-bāb ʿind al-mifṣalצר אל-באב ענד אל-מפצלThe door creaked at the hinge.
Plural
مَفَاصِل
mafāṣilמפאצלbroken plural maCāCiC — also the word for anatomical joints