How to say "friend" in Arabic
Shifted meaningMeaningfriend
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
ṣadīqצדיק
صديق
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
khaverخَاڤِر
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 Hebrew tzedek (צדק, 'justice') and tzaddik (צדיק): in Arabic ص-د-ق means truth and sincerity, so a ṣadīq is literally 'the sincere one'. Identical letters, but he's your friend — not a saint.
Related Hebrew word:צדיקtsadikتْسَادِيك
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
Friends are ṣāḥib (pl. ṣḥāb) in speech; ṣadīq is more formal.
Egyptian · Cairo and the Nile Delta
Cairo: ṣāḥib (pl. ṣuḥāb); ṣaḥbi — 'my friend'.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
Darija: ṣāḥeb (pl. ṣḥāb); ṣāḥbi — 'my friend'.
In a phrase
My old friend.
Plural
broken plural aCCiCāʾ — like صديق→أصدقاء.
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