How to say "flower" in Arabic

Shifted meaning

Meaningflower

Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic

زَهْرَة

zahraזהרה

زهرة

Hebrew · Modern Hebrew

פרח

perakhپِرَاخ

How the two words are related

Shifted meaning

Same root as a Hebrew word, but the meaning drifted over the centuries.

Arabic root

ز-ه-ر

Hebrew root

ז-ה-ר

Arabic z-h-r covers both shining and blossoming (izdahara — to flourish); Hebrew kept the shine in זוהר. A flower is literally the plant's glow.

Related Hebrew word:זוהרzoharزُوهَار

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

Levantine · Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria

وَرْدِة

wardeורדה

Everyday Levantine says warde — the same old wandering word behind Hebrew ורד (rose).

Egyptian · Cairo and the Nile Delta

وَرْدَة

wardaורדה

Cairo, like the Levant, reaches for warda.

Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes

نُوَّارَة

nuwwāraנוארה

A different word: nuwwāra is a flower; werda is specifically a rose.

زَهْرَة جَمِيلَة

zahra jamīlaזהרה ג'מילה

a beautiful flower

زُهُور

zuhūrזהור

broken plural CuCūC — like نَجْم→نُجُوم