How to say "husband" in Arabic
LoanwordMeaninghusband
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
zawjזוג'
زوج
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
ba'alبَاءَال
How the two words are related
Borrowed between the languages (or by both from a third).
Both Arabic zawj and Hebrew zug (זוג, 'pair') go back to Greek zeugos ('yoke, pair') — Arabic picking it up via Aramaic. Hebrew kept the pair, Arabic made it the spouse — and Modern Hebrew ben-zug ('partner') circles right back.
Related Hebrew word:זוגzugزُوگ
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
Levantine flips the consonants: zawj becomes jōz (jōzī = my husband).
Egyptian · Cairo and the Nile Delta
Cairo: gōz, with the hard g (gōzi — 'my husband').
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
Darija says rājel ('man') for husband: rājli — 'my husband'.
In a phrase
Her husband is an engineer.