How to say "flour" in Arabic
CognateMeaningflour
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
طَحِين
ṭaḥīnטחין
طحين
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
קמח
kemakhكِمَاخ
How the two words are related
Cognate
Same Semitic root, same meaning — you already know this word.
Arabic root
ط-ح-نHebrew root
ט-ח-נArabic ṭaḥīn, 'flour', is the direct product of the verb ṭaḥana, 'to grind' — the very same root as Hebrew טחן (to grind) and טוחנות, the molars, the teeth that mill your food. Flour is quite literally 'the ground stuff' in both languages.
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
دِقِيق
diʾīʾדאיאCairo uses a different word, diʾīʾ (MSA daqīq), with both qāfs as glottal stops.
In a phrase
طَحِين أَبْيَض
ṭaḥīn abyaḍטחין אביצ'white flour