How to say "deal, transaction" in Arabic
New wordMeaningdeal, transaction
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
ṣafqaצפקה
صفقة
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
iskaإِسْكَا
How the two words are related
No Hebrew relative — learn it fresh.
Arabic root
ص-ف-قArabic ṣafaqa means 'to clap, to strike palms' — a deal was sealed with a handclasp, so a ṣafqa is literally 'a clasp'. Tempting to hear an echo of Biblical Hebrew סָפַק כַּפָּיו, 'to clap the hands' (Job 34:37, Numbers 24:10) — but the sounds don't line up by the regular rules (Arabic ص answers Hebrew צ, not ס), so file this under curiosity, not cognate.
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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
Medial ق becomes a glottal stop, the same pattern as صقر→ṣaʾr (falcon), and the tāʾ marbūṭa softens to -a in casual speech: ṣafʾa.
Egyptian · Cairo and the Nile Delta
Cairo, too, turns the qāf into a glottal stop: ṣafʾa.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
Darija keeps the q: ṣefqa.
In a phrase
a commercial deal
Plural
Sound feminine plural -āt.