How to say "thirsty" in Arabic
CognateMeaningthirsty
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
ظَمْآن
ẓamʾānט'מאאן
ظمآن
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
צמא
tsameتْسَامِي
How the two words are related
Cognate
Same Semitic root, same meaning — you already know this word.
Arabic root
ظ-م-أHebrew root
צ-מ-אSame root as Hebrew tsame (צמא), 'thirsty' — ẓāʾ regularly answers Hebrew tsadi, just as in ẓuhr/tsohorayim, and mīm and hamza match mem and alef exactly, letter for letter.
Learn it
On the street
How people actually say it in the spoken dialects, where it differs from the standard word.
Egyptian · Cairo and the Nile Delta
عَطْشَان
ʿaṭshānעטשאןThe everyday word is ʿaṭshān; ẓamʾān is literary.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
عطْشَان
ʿeṭshānעטשאןDarija: ʿeṭshān.
In a phrase
طِفْل ظَمْآن
ṭifl ẓamʾānטפל ט'מאאןa thirsty child
Plural
ظِمَاء
ẓimāʾט'מאאbroken plural CiCāC — the pattern for CaCCān body-state adjectives
Feminine
ظَمْأَى
ẓamʾāט'מאא