How to say "difference" in Arabic
Shifted meaningMeaningdifference
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
فَرْق
farqפרק
فرق
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
הבדל
hevdelهِڤْدِل
How the two words are related
Shifted meaning
Same root as a Hebrew word, but the meaning drifted over the centuries.
Arabic root
ف-ر-قHebrew root
פ-ר-קRoot פ-ר-ק/ف-ر-ق means 'to split apart, separate' across Semitic (compare Aramaic פרק, Akkadian parāqu). Hebrew פרק kept the concrete 'take apart, dismantle' sense and extended it to 'chapter' — a text broken into separate sections. Arabic farq stayed abstract: the 'separation' between two things, i.e. the difference. This is why a book chapter is called פרק in Hebrew.
Related Hebrew word:פרקperekپِرِك
Learn it
In a phrase
مَا الْفَرْق؟
mā l-farq?מא אל-פרק?What's the difference?
Plural
فُرُوق
furūqפרוקbroken plural CuCūC.