How to say "heavy" in Arabic

Cognate

Meaningheavy

Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic

ثَقِيل

thaqīlת'קיל

ثقيل

Hebrew · Modern Hebrew

כבד

kavedكَاڤِد

How the two words are related

Cognate

Same Semitic root, same meaning — you already know this word.

Arabic root

ث-ق-ل

Hebrew root

ש-ק-ל

Arabic th-q-l is Hebrew sh-q-l (ש-ק-ל), 'to weigh' — every Israeli shekel, literally 'a weight', is this root. Arabic keeps it in thiql (weight) and the classical coin-weight mithqāl.

Related Hebrew word:שקלshekelشِكِل

Learn it

On the street

How people actually say it in the spoken dialects, where it differs from the standard word.

Levantine · Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria

تْقِيل
tʾīlתאיל

In speech th flattens to t and qāf becomes a glottal stop: tʾīl.

Egyptian · Cairo and the Nile Delta

تِقِيل
tiʾīlתאיל

ث becomes t and qāf a glottal stop: tiʾīl.

Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes

تْقِيل
tqīlתקיל

ث becomes t and the q stays: tqīl.

In a phrase

الْحَقِيبَة ثَقِيلَة
al-ḥaqība thaqīlaאל-חקיבה ת'קילה

the bag is heavy

Plural

ثِقَال
thiqālת'קאל

broken plural CiCāC — like كبير→كبار

Feminine

ثَقِيلَة
thaqīlaת'קילה

More in Adjectives & Opposites

All Adjectives & Opposites words Explore all root families