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fathi husain

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for people to participate and share the words that they know have Arabic origins .

share with us your favorite word that comes from Arabic origin and tell us why you like it

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Topics: Arabic Education language Mathematics communication culture hate speech history love social change
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  • Susannah Remfry

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    Jul 5 2012: Mine is a name. "Leila" is my mother's name, and it is derived from the Arabic word meaning darkness, or night.
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    Gabo Moreno 100+

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    Jun 15 2012: In Spanish:

    "Ojalá." This word means something like "let's hope so." But it derives from arabic words meaning: "may God want it so. I love this word because a lot of people say: "Ojalá Dios quiera" and "Dios quiera" means "may God want it so."

    Another word coming from Arabic into Spanish that I like a lot is "Alhaja" meaning "jewel." I just like both the sound of the word and the typographic personality added by the "h," which in Spanish does not have a sound.

  • Nomvula Buthelezi

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    Jun 15 2012: My arabic word ILHAAM... this is my daughter's name because she was a REVELATION for me...
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    R H 20+

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    Jun 15 2012: Math. Oh no, that's Greek. The Arabic people are just really good at it.
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    Branislav Ivkovic 10+

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    TED Translator
    Jun 13 2012: Oh, there are so many words in Serbian that are of Arabic origin... (aždaja, ambar, bakšiš, bašta, bećar, behar, berberin, bor, bostan, boza, burazer, burek, višnja, dar-mar, div, dilber, dugme, dušmanin, đerdap, jaran, jadac, jorgovan, kavga, kajgana, kalup, kazan, kesa, lala, leš, limun, mana, mehana, minđuša, merdevine, meze, nafta, nar, narandža, nišan, pamuk, parče, papuča, para, pazar, pekmez, peškir, pilav, pirinač, rusvaj, serdar, sirće, spanać, tambura, taraba, taze, terazije, tezga, testera, turšija, ćilim, ćošak, čaršija, čarapa, čardak, čaršav, česma, činija, čobanin, čorba, dželat, džigerica, džumbus, šećer, šegrt)

    top 5 would be:
    aždaja - a dragon
    bašta - a garden
    kajgana - scrambled eggs
    minđuša - an earring
    nar - a pomergranate and narandža - an orange

    honestly, i love all of these words because thez have SHs and DZs and consonants that just sound exotic and are difficult for foreigners to pronounce :D
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      dean crawford

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      Jul 13 2012: howdy
      Hell there difficult for some of us to even try pronouce or read. Proably butchering them but I'm putting my best foot foward. :)
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