How to say "science (school subject)" in Arabic
New wordMeaningscience (school subject)
Arabic · Modern Standard Arabic
ʿulūmעלום
علوم
Hebrew · Modern Hebrew
mada'imمَادَائِيم
How the two words are related
No Hebrew relative — learn it fresh.
Arabic root
ع-ل-مʿUlūm is simply the plural of ʿilm, 'knowledge' (the same root gives muʿallim, 'teacher'). Hebrew מדע comes from י-ד-ע, 'to know', a root that has no everyday Arabic relative — so the two school subjects share a meaning but not a word.
Learn it
In a phrase
the science teacher
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