How to say "boy" in Arabic
CognateMeaningboy
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
وَلَد
waladולד
ولد
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
ילד
yeledيِلِد
How the two words are related
Cognate
Same Semitic root, same meaning — you already know this word.
Arabic root
و-ل-دHebrew root
י-ל-דWalad shares the root w-l-d ('to give birth') with Hebrew yeled (ילד): Proto-Semitic w- regularly became y- at the start of Hebrew words, so walad and yeled are the same child.
Learn it
On the street
How people actually say it in the spoken dialects, where it differs from the standard word.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
ولْد
weldולדDarija: weld (pl. wlād) — 'boy' and 'son' alike.
In a phrase
الْوَلَد فِي الْمَدْرَسَة
al-walad fī l-madrasaאל-ולד פי אל-מדרסהThe boy is at school.
Plural
أَوْلَاد
awlādאולאדbroken plural aCCāC — like ولد→أولاد; in speech it covers kids in general.