How to say "friendship" in Arabic
Shifted meaningMeaningfriendship
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
ṣadāqaצדאקה
صداقة
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
khaverutخَاڤِرُوت
How the two words are related
Same root as a Hebrew word, but the meaning drifted over the centuries.
Arabic root
ص-د-قHebrew root
צ-ד-קSame root as صدقة, "charity" (ص↔צ, as always): ص-د-ق is about truth and sincerity in both languages. A صديق ṣadīq is a "true" friend, and صداقة ṣadāqa is simply the state of being true to someone. Hebrew's own root cousin, צדק, never quite reached "friendship" — it stayed with "justice, righteousness" — so Hebrew's everyday word for friendship, חברות, comes from an unrelated root about joining together.
Related Hebrew word:צדקtsedekتْسِدِك
Learn 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
The qāf becomes a glottal stop in urban Levantine, even mid-word.
Egyptian · Cairo and the Nile Delta
Cairo, too, says ṣadāʾa.
In a phrase
a true friendship
The root family
ص-د-قצ-ד-ק· truth, righteousness
One root, two ideals: Hebrew steered it toward justice (צדק, צדיק), Arabic toward truth (ṣidq) — so a ṣadīq is a true friend, not a saint, despite being spelled צדיק. The charity is shared outright: ṣadaqa and צדקה are the same word and the same idea, and many scholars think Arabic absorbed the alms sense from Jewish and Aramaic usage.
- صَدِيق ṣadīqfriend — literally "the true one"צַדִּיקrighteous man — same letters, different hero
- صَدَقَ ṣadaqahe told the truthצָדַקhe was right
- صِدْق ṣidqtruthfulness, sincerityצֶדֶקjustice
- صَدَقَة ṣadaqacharity, almsצְדָקָהcharity — the same word in both
- صَدَّقَ ṣaddaqahe believed (someone)הִצְדִּיקhe justified, vindicated