How to say "ghee (clarified butter)" in Arabic
Shifted meaningMeaningghee (clarified butter)
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
samnסמן
سمن
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
khema mezukeketخِمَا مِزُوكِكِت
How the two words are related
Same root as a Hebrew word, but the meaning drifted over the centuries.
Arabic root
س-م-نHebrew root
ש-מ-ןSame root on both sides, ש-מ-ן / س-م-ن. Hebrew שמן generalized to 'oil' of any kind; Arabic samn narrowed the other way, to specifically clarified butter — the fat that stays samīn, 'rich', long after churning.
Related Hebrew word:שמןshemenشِمِن
Learn it
On the street
How people actually say it in the spoken dialects, where it differs from the standard word.
Egyptian · Cairo and the Nile Delta
Cairo: samna (samna baladi — 'homemade ghee').
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
Darija's smen is the aged, pungent clarified butter of Moroccan cooking.
In a phrase
traditional farm ghee