How to say "coffee" in Arabic
LoanwordMeaningcoffee
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
قَهْوَة
qahwaקהוה
قهوة
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
קפה
kafeكَافِي
How the two words are related
Loanword
Borrowed between the languages (or by both from a third).
Arabic root
ق-ه-وHebrew קפה is qahwa come home the long way round: Arabic qahwa → Turkish kahve → European coffee/café → Modern Hebrew. In classical Arabic, qahwa originally meant wine.
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
قَهْوِة
ahweאהוהUrban Levantine turns q into a glottal stop: ʾahwe.
Egyptian · Cairo and the Nile Delta
قَهْوَة
ʾahwaאהוהCairo: ʾahwa — also the word for the coffeehouse.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
قهْوَة
qehwaקהוהDarija keeps the q: qehwa.
In a phrase
فِنْجَان قَهْوَة
finjān qahwaפנג'אן קהוהa cup of coffee