How to say "pencil case" in Arabic
LoanwordMeaningpencil case
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
مِقْلَمَة
miqlamaמקלמה
مقلمة
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
קלמר
kalmarكَالْمَار
How the two words are related
Loanword
Borrowed between the languages (or by both from a third).
Arabic root
ق-ل-مBoth go back to Greek kálamos, the reed pen. Arabic turned its borrowed qalam into a native tool-noun, miqlama, 'the pen holder'; Hebrew קלמר comes from Greek kalamárion, 'pen case', through rabbinic Hebrew and Aramaic — the same family as קולמוס, this app's Hebrew relative for 'pen'.
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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
مَقْلَمِة
maʾlameמאלמהCity speech: maʾlame, with a glottal stop for qāf and the Levantine -e ending.
In a phrase
قَلَمِي فِي الْمِقْلَمَة
qalamī fī l-miqlamaקלמי פי אל-מקלמהMy pen is in the pencil case.
Plural
مَقَالِم
maqālimמקאלםbroken plural mafāʿil.