How to say "water pipe, hookah (Arabic and Israeli Hebrew)" in Arabic
LoanwordMeaningwater pipe, hookah (Arabic and Israeli Hebrew)
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
nārjīlaנארג'ילה
نارجيلة
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
nargilaنَارْگِيلَا
How the two words are related
Borrowed between the languages (or by both from a third).
A loan into Arabic itself before it ever reached Hebrew: from Persian nārgīl, 'coconut' — the old bowls were carved from coconut shells. Israeli Hebrew took the word whole, dropping the medial vowel in casual spelling.
Learn it
On the street
How people actually say it in the spoken dialects, where it differs from the standard word.
Levantine · Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria
The competing Levantine term, especially in Lebanon and Syria — likely via Turkish nargile rather than directly from Persian.
Egyptian · Cairo and the Nile Delta
A different word: shīsha is the Cairo hookah.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
A different word: shīsha in Morocco too.
In a phrase
we smoke a hookah
More in Arabic You Already Speak
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