How to say "Egypt" in Arabic
CognateMeaningEgypt
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
miṣrמצר
مصر
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
mitsrayimمِتْسْرَايِم
How the two words are related
Same Semitic root, same meaning — you already know this word.
Arabic root
م-ص-رHebrew root
מ-צ-רEgypt's Arabic name miṣr and Hebrew מצרים are traditionally connected by many Semitists to a shared ancient root m-ṣ-r 'border, frontier region' (compare Akkadian miṣru, and Biblical Hebrew מצר 'border, boundary') — sound for sound, ص matches צ exactly, though the ultimate origin of the name is debated. Hebrew's plural-looking מצרים may echo the two historical halves of the country, Upper and Lower Egypt.
Learn it
On the street
How people actually say it in the spoken dialects, where it differs from the standard word.
Egyptian · Cairo and the Nile Delta
Egyptians say maṣr — and it also means Cairo.
In a phrase
I am from Egypt