How to say "darkness" in Arabic
Shifted meaningMeaningdarkness
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
ẓalāmט'לאם
ظلام
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
khoshekhخُوشِخ
How the two words are related
Same root as a Hebrew word, but the meaning drifted over the centuries.
Arabic root
ظ-ل-مHebrew root
צ-ל-םBiblical tsalmavet (גיא צלמוות, 'the valley of the shadow of death') is traditionally read as tsel + mavet, but many scholars re-read it as tsalmut, 'deep darkness', from this very root ẓ-l-m. Separately, Arabic ẓill (shadow) is a secure match for Hebrew tsel — the same צ ↔ ظ correspondence.
Related Hebrew word:צלמוותtsalmavetتْسَلْمَاڤِت
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
The everyday Levantine word for darkness is ʿatme.
Egyptian · Cairo and the Nile Delta
Cairo says ḍalma — id-dinya ḍalma, it is dark out.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
ظ is said as ḍ: ḍlām.
In a phrase
the darkness of night