How to say "pen" in Arabic
LoanwordMeaningpen
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
قَلَم
qalamקלם
قلم
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
עט
etإِت
How the two words are related
Loanword
Borrowed between the languages (or by both from a third).
Both descend from Greek kálamos, the reed pen: rabbinic Hebrew took it as קולמוס, Arabic as qalam. Same reed, two scripts.
Related Hebrew word:קולמוסkulmusكُولْمُوس
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
قَلَم
alamאלםThe qāf becomes a glottal stop in urban Levantine: ʾalam.
Egyptian · Cairo and the Nile Delta
قَلَم
ʾalamאלםCairo, too, says qāf as a glottal stop: ʾalam.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
سْتِيلُو
stīloסתילוFrom French stylo; qlam is a pencil.
In a phrase
كَتَبَ بِالْقَلَم
kataba bi-l-qalamכתב באל-קלםHe wrote with the pen.
Plural
أَقْلَام
aqlāmאקלאםbroken plural aCCāC — like بَاب→أَبْوَاب