How to say "clean, pure" in Arabic
CognateMeaningclean, pure
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
نَقِيّ
naqiyyנקי
نقي
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
נקי
nakiنَاكِي
How the two words are related
Cognate
Same Semitic root, same meaning — you already know this word.
Arabic root
ن-ق-يHebrew root
נ-ק-הNearly identical to Hebrew naki (נקי), 'clean' — nūn and qāf match nun and qof exactly, and the same final weak radical appears as ה in Hebrew and י in Arabic. As close as two words get without being the same word.
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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
نِضِيف
niḍīfנצ'יףCairo's clean is niḍīf.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
نْقِي
nqiנקיDarija's clean is nqi — the same sound as Hebrew נקי.
In a phrase
مَاء نَقِيّ
māʾ naqiyyמאא נקיclean water
Feminine
نَقِيَّة
naqiyyaנקיה