How to say "quail" in Arabic
New wordMeaningquail
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
سَلْوَى
salwāסלוא
سلوى
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
שְׂלָו
slavسْلَاڤ
How the two words are related
New word
No Hebrew relative — learn it fresh.
Arabic root
س-ل-وNo confidently regular sound correspondence to claim as a true cognate (Hebrew's שׂ would regularly match Arabic ش, not the س seen here) — but the cultural echo is irresistible: this is the very quail of the wilderness, paired with manna in both Exodus 16 and the Quran's Surat al-Baqara (2:57), same story, same bird, suspiciously similar name.
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In a phrase
سَلْوَى فِي الصَّحْرَاء
salwā fī ṣ-ṣaḥrāʾסלוא פי א-צחראאquail in the desert