How to say "bird" in Arabic
CognateMeaningbird
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
ʿuṣfūrעצפור
عصفور
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
tsiporتْسِيپُور
How the two words are related
Same Semitic root, same meaning — you already know this word.
Arabic root
ع-ص-ف-رHebrew root
צ-פ-רʿUṣfūr and tsippor share the ancient Semitic bird word ṣ-p-r — Arabic added an ʿayn up front, but the tsippor is still chirping inside.
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
Levantine says ʿaṣfūr, with an a in the first syllable.
Egyptian · Cairo and the Nile Delta
Cairo says ʿaṣfūr, with an a in the first syllable.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
Darija's everyday word for a bird is ṭīr; ʿaṣfūr is a small bird or sparrow.
In a phrase
a bird on the tree
Plural
broken plural CaCāCīC — four-consonant nouns take this shape, like مِفْتَاح→مَفَاتِيح (key→keys)