How to say "strong" in Arabic
New wordMeaningstrong
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
قَوِيّ
qawiyyקוי
قوي
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
חזק
khazakخَازَاك
How the two words are related
New word
No Hebrew relative — learn it fresh.
Arabic root
ق-و-يLearn 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
قَوِيّ
awiאויUrban Levantine turns qāf into a glottal stop: awi.
Egyptian · Cairo and the Nile Delta
قَوِي
ʾawiאויʾawi is also Cairo's 'very': kwayyis ʾawi, very good.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
قْوِي
qwiקויAlso ṣḥīḥ, literally 'sound', for a strong person.
In a phrase
رَجُل قَوِيّ
rajul qawiyyרג'ל קויa strong man
Plural
أَقْوِيَاء
aqwiyāʾאקויאאbroken plural aCCiCāʾ — a people-pattern, like صديق→أصدقاء
Feminine
قَوِيَّة
qawiyyaקויה