How to say "ancient, old (of things)" in Arabic
CognateMeaningancient, old (of things)
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
qadīmקדים
قديم
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
atikأَتِيك
How the two words are related
Same Semitic root, same meaning — you already know this word.
Arabic root
ق-د-مHebrew root
ק-ד-םSame q-d-m root as Hebrew kadum (קדום), 'ancient', and kedem (קדם), 'antiquity' — both languages use 'what came before' for old things. Bonus: the usual Hebrew translation atik (עתיק) is itself cognate with Arabic ʿatīq, another word for ancient.
Related Hebrew word:קדוםkadumكَادُوم
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
Urban Levantine turns qāf into a glottal stop: adīm.
Egyptian · Cairo and the Nile Delta
Cairo, too, says qāf as a glottal stop: ʾadīm.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
Darija keeps the q and drops the first vowel: qdīm.
In a phrase
Jerusalem is an ancient city