How to say "cactus, prickly pear" in Arabic
LoanwordMeaningcactus, prickly pear
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
ṣabbārצבאר
صبار
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
tsabarتْسَابَار
How the two words are related
Borrowed between the languages (or by both from a third).
Arabic root
ص-ب-رOne of Hebrew's most famous borrowings: צבר, 'cactus, prickly pear' — and by extension the classic nickname for a native-born Israeli, 'prickly outside, sweet inside' — comes straight from Arabic ṣabbār (colloquially ṣabr). The name is usually tied to ṣabr, 'patience' (the plant's tenacity in the desert), though it may come by way of ṣabir, 'aloe'. Hebrew has no native root for 'patience' built on ص-ب-ر; this word arrived as a single, whole loan.
Learn it
On the street
How people actually say it in the spoken dialects, where it differs from the standard word.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
Morocco's prickly pear is l-hendiya, the Indian one.
In a phrase
a cactus in the desert
Plural
sound feminine plural -āt, for the varieties/plants; صَبَّار itself is already a collective