How to say "a cough" in Arabic
CognateMeaninga cough
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
سُعَال
suʿālסעאל
سعال
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
שיעול
shi'ulشِيئُول
How the two words are related
Cognate
Same Semitic root, same meaning — you already know this word.
Arabic root
س-ع-لHebrew root
ש-ע-לSuʿāl is שיעול, ש↔س regular. It's the noun form of a verb already in this app: saʿala, 'to cough', the root behind Modern Hebrew הִשְׁתַּעֵל — a tidy match hiding in two very ordinary words.
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
كُحَّة
kuḥḥaכחהCairo's cough is kuḥḥa.
In a phrase
عِنْدِي سُعَال شَدِيد
ʿindī suʿāl shadīdענדי סעאל שדידI have a bad cough.