How to say "straight" in Arabic

Shifted meaning

Meaningstraight

Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic

مُسْتَقِيم

mustaqīmמסתקים

مستقيم

Hebrew · Modern Hebrew

ישר

yasharيَاشَار

How the two words are related

Shifted meaning

Same root as a Hebrew word, but the meaning drifted over the centuries.

Arabic root

ق-و-م

Hebrew root

ק-ו-ם

Built on ق-و-م, 'to stand, rise' — exactly Hebrew קום (qum). Something 'straight' in Arabic is literally something that 'stands upright'; Hebrew kept the standing, Arabic extended it to straightness and moral rectitude (the Quran's aṣ-ṣirāṭ al-mustaqīm, 'the straight path').

Related Hebrew word:קוםkumكُوم

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On the street

How people actually say it in the spoken dialects, where it differs from the standard word.

Levantine · Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria

دَغْرِي

dughriדע'רי

The everyday spoken word for 'straight ahead' and 'straightforward' — Israeli Hebrew borrowed it directly as slang דוגרי, 'straight up, frankly'.

Egyptian · Cairo and the Nile Delta

عَلَى طُول

ʿala ṭūlעלא טול

Cairo's straight ahead is ʿala ṭūl — which also means always and right away.

Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes

نِيشَان

nīshānנישאן

Darija's straight ahead is nīshān.

In a phrase

طَرِيق مُسْتَقِيم

ṭarīq mustaqīmטריק מסתקים

a straight road

Feminine

مُسْتَقِيمَة

mustaqīmaמסתקימה

More words from this root

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