How to say "monkey" in Arabic
New wordMeaningmonkey
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
qirdקרד
قرد
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
kofكُوف
How the two words are related
No Hebrew relative — learn it fresh.
Arabic root
ق-ر-دNo relation to qird despite the tempting ק look-alike — Hebrew qof is itself a loanword, most likely from Sanskrit kapi by way of the ships of Tarshish in 1 Kings 10:22. Two borrowed monkeys that never actually met.
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On the street
How people actually say it in the spoken dialects, where it differs from the standard word.
Levantine · Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria
Word-initial ق drops to a glottal stop that's silent in Latin (ird) but shown with א in Hebrew.
Egyptian · Cairo and the Nile Delta
Cairo, too: ʾird, with a glottal stop for qāf.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
Darija keeps the q: qerd.
In a phrase
a monkey playing
Plural
broken plural CuCūC