How to say "train" in Arabic
LoanwordMeaningtrain
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
قِطَار
qiṭārקטאר
قطار
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
רכבת
rakevetرَاكِڤِت
How the two words are related
Loanword
Borrowed between the languages (or by both from a third).
Arabic root
ق-ط-رqiṭār first meant a train of camels roped nose to tail — the railway simply inherited the caravan. Modern Hebrew borrowed it as קטר, narrowing it to the locomotive that pulls the רכבת.
Related Hebrew word:קטרkatarكَاتَار
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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
قَطْر
ʾaṭrאטרCairo says il-ʾaṭr, with a glottal stop for qāf and a clipped shape.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
تْرَان
trānתראןMorocco's train is t-trān, from French.
In a phrase
فَاتَنِي الْقِطَار
fātanī l-qiṭārפאתני אל-קטארI missed the train.
Plural
قِطَارَات
qiṭārātקטאראתsound feminine plural -āt.