How to say "accountant" in Arabic
CognateMeaningaccountant
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
muḥāsibמחאסב
محاسب
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
kheshbonaiخِشْبُونَاي
How the two words are related
Same Semitic root, same meaning — you already know this word.
Arabic root
ح-س-بHebrew root
ח-ש-בRoot ح-س-ب 'to count, reckon, calculate' is Hebrew ח-ש-ב letter for letter (س regularly answers ש) — muḥāsib and Hebrew חשבונאי both build their accountant on the very same 'calculate' root that gives חשבון 'account, bill' and even מחשב 'computer', literally 'the thing that calculates'.
Related Hebrew word:חשבוןkheshbonخِشْبُون
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In a phrase
The accountant counts the numbers.
Plural
sound masculine plural -ūn
Feminine
The root family
ح-س-بח-ש-ב· reckoning
One counting root, two careers: Hebrew ח-ש-ב drifted from reckoning to thinking (חשב), while Arabic stayed at the ledger — ḥisāb is your restaurant bill, exactly חשבון. Then both modern languages, coining a word for computer, reached for the very same root: Hebrew built מחשב, Arabic built ḥāsūb.
- حِسَاب ḥisābbill, account, arithmeticחֶשְׁבּוֹןbill, account
- حَسَبَ ḥasabahe counted, calculatedחָשַׁבhe thought — counting turned inward
- حَاسُوب ḥāsūbcomputerמַחְשֵׁבcomputer — same root, same century
- حَاسِبَة ḥāsibacalculator (āla ḥāsiba)
- مُحَاسِب muḥāsibaccountant
- حَسَب ḥasabaccording to (bi-ḥasab)