How to say "garbage (Arabic) → trash, worthless junk (Israeli slang)" in Arabic
LoanwordMeaninggarbage (Arabic) → trash, worthless junk (Israeli slang)
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
zubālaזבאלה
زبالة
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
zbalaزْبَالَا
How the two words are related
Borrowed between the languages (or by both from a third).
Arabic root
ز-ب-لHebrew root
ז-ב-לA loan with a twist: Hebrew already owns the cognate, since z-b-l is the ז-ב-ל of זבל, dung and rubbish. Modern slang then borrowed the Arabic cousin zubāla on top of it, for anything trashy.
Related Hebrew word:זבלzevelزِڤِل
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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 first vowel drops and the ending shifts toward -e in the Levant.
Egyptian · Cairo and the Nile Delta
Cairo: zibāla, with its usual i and -a ending.
Moroccan · Morocco — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes
Darija clips it to zbel.
In a phrase
the food here is garbage
More in Arabic You Already Speak
- idle talk, tall tales (Arabic) → nonsense, baloney (Israeli slang)kharṭخَرْطחרטה
- 'as you please' (Arabic) → terrific, tip-top (Israeli slang על הכיפאק)ʿalā kayfikaعَلَى كَيْفِكَעל הכיפאק
- oh my darling (Arabic) → buddy!, wow! (Israeli slang exclamation)yā ḥabībīيَا حَبِيبِيיא חביבי
- fool, dimwit (Arabic and Israeli slang)ahbalأَهْبَلאהבל
- five (Arabic) → the hand-shaped amulet (Israeli usage)khamsaخَمْسَةחמסה
- failure (Arabic) → screw-up, botch (Israeli slang)fashalفَشَلפשלה
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