How to say "car" in Arabic
LoanwordMeaningcar
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
sayyāraסיארה
سيارة
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
mekhonitمِخُونِيت
How the two words are related
Borrowed between the languages (or by both from a third).
Arabic root
س-ي-رHebrew root
ס-י-רsayyāra is 'the great traveler', from س-ي-ر 'to journey'. The same roving root reached Modern Hebrew through Talmudic Aramaic (מְסַיֵּר, one who makes the rounds of his property) — hence סייר 'to scout', סיור 'patrol', and the elite סיירת — so the recon unit and the family car are road-trip cousins.
Related Hebrew word:סיירתsayeretسَايِرِت
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 calls a car ʿarabiyya, literally 'a cart'; sayyāra sounds formal.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
Darija's car is ṭomobīl, from French automobile.
In a phrase
The car is fast.
Plural
sound feminine plural -āt.