How to say "waiter" in Arabic
New wordMeaningwaiter
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
نَادِل
nādilנאדל
نادل
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
מלצר
meltsarمِلْتْسَار
How the two words are related
New word
No Hebrew relative — learn it fresh.
No shared root — nādil's own origin is debated (possibly from a dialectal or Turkish source), and Hebrew מלצר has its own separate history, an old loan meaning roughly 'steward'. Two waiters, two unrelated pasts.
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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
جَرْسُون
garsōnגרסוןCairo's waiter is a garsōn, from French garçon.
In a phrase
النَّادِل فِي الْمَطْعَم
an-nādil fī l-maṭʿamא-נאדל פי אל-מטעםThe waiter is in the restaurant.
Plural
نَادِلُون
nādilūnנאדלוןsound masculine plural -ūn
Feminine
نَادِلَة
nādilaנאדלה