How to say "mother" in Arabic

Cognate

Meaningmother

Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic

أُمّ

ummאם

أم

Hebrew · Modern Hebrew

אמא

imaإِيمَا

How the two words are related

Cognate

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

Arabic root

أ-م-م

Hebrew root

א-מ

Umm and Hebrew em (אם) are the same word with a vowel shift. Think of the singer Umm Kulthum — 'mother of Kulthum'.

Related Hebrew word:אםemإِم

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

Levantine · Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria

إِمّ

immאם

The u becomes i in Levantine (immī = my mom); māma is also universal.

Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes

مَّا

mmaמא

Darija moms are mma; the polite word is l-wālida.

أُمِّي طَبِيبَة

ummī ṭabībaאמי טביבה

My mother is a doctor.

أُمَّهَات

ummahātאמהאת

irregular plural with an -ahāt extension — remarkably, Hebrew does the exact same thing in imahot (אימהות).