How to say "to teach" in Arabic
New wordMeaningto teach
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
عَلَّمَ
ʿallamaעלם
علم
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
לימד
limedلِيمِد
How the two words are related
New word
No Hebrew relative — learn it fresh.
Arabic root
ع-ل-مThe causative of ع-ل-م: 'to make someone know'. Muʿallim 'teacher' is its participle — exactly as Hebrew מלמד is the participle of לימד, though the two roots are unrelated.
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In a phrase
عَلَّمَنِي الْكِتَابَة
ʿallamanī l-kitābaעלמני אל-כתאבהHe taught me to write.
The root family
ع-ل-م· knowing
Arabic's great knowledge root — science, teachers, flags, and the world itself. Hebrew's ע-ל-ם is a different root meaning "to hide" (נעלם, תעלומה), so there is no straight twin; Hebrew covers this ground with י-ד-ע and ל-מ-ד instead. Yet עולם and ʿālam are clearly the same word — many linguists hold that Arabic took ʿālam from Aramaic ʿālmā, so the world sneaks in through a side door.
- عِلْم ʿilmknowledge, science
- عَلِمَ ʿalimahe knew
- مُعَلِّم muʿallimteacher
- عَالَم ʿālamworldעוֹלָםworld — likely the same word via Aramaic
- تَعْلِيم taʿlīmeducation, instruction
- عَلَم ʿalamflag, banner