How to say "ginger" in Arabic
LoanwordMeaningginger
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
زَنْجَبِيل
zanjabīlזנג'ביל
زنجبيل
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
זנגביל
zangvilزَانْگْڤِيل
How the two words are related
Loanword
Borrowed between the languages (or by both from a third).
Hebrew זנגביל and Arabic zanjabīl are the same well-traveled word, both from Persian zanjabīl, itself from an old Sanskrit-family root for the ginger root — the word even makes a cameo in the Quran (76:17), describing a drink of Paradise spiced with zanjabīl; the very next verse (76:18) names the spring it flows from Salsabīl.
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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
جَنْزَبِيل
ganzabīlגנזבילCairo swaps the consonants: ganzabīl.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
سْكنْجْبِير
skenjbīrסכנג'בירDarija's ginger is skenjbīr.
In a phrase
زَنْجَبِيل طَازَج
zanjabīl ṭāzajזנג'ביל טאזג'fresh ginger