How to say "to fight, battle" in Arabic
Shifted meaningMeaningto fight, battle
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
qātalaקאתל
قاتل
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
nilkhamنِلْخَام
How the two words are related
Same root as a Hebrew word, but the meaning drifted over the centuries.
Arabic root
ق-ت-لHebrew root
ק-ט-לqātala, Form III of ق-ت-ل ('to kill'), literally means 'to try to kill each other' — the standard shape for a mutual fight. That root is Hebrew קטל (ق↔ק, ل↔ל, and, less regularly, ت↔ט): קטל is a real, if literary, Hebrew verb for 'slew, killed' (compare קטלני, 'lethal'). Everyday Hebrew 'to fight' is נלחם, an unrelated root.
Related Hebrew word:קטלkatalكَاتَال
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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
Cairo's everyday 'to fight, quarrel' is itkhāniʾ (spelled اتخانق); ḥārib is for battles.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
Darija's 'to fight (each other)' is tḍāreb.
In a phrase
The soldiers fought bravely