The month of July is a time to enjoy all the fresh fruits as they in season and at their prime. If you happen to go to a local market or a roadside stand, maybe the merchant may not understand Arabic. Or if you choose to send a driver out to get the fruit for you, you will want to know what the names of these fruits are in Arabic. All of the fruits names have been spelled phonetically in English to assist in pronunciation:
Watermelon Hap Hap
Banana Moz
Apple Tufah
Orange portical
Kiwi kiwi
Pomegranate Romaan
Raspberry toot
Strawberry fawralah
Pineapple ananas
Cherry karas
Apricot mish mish
Grape einab
Peach khoh
Guava jowafa
Pear kimethra
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In Kuwait they call watermelon riqqay, but I think the real Arabic word is bateekh… all of which makes it even harder to learn Arabic!
one more lesson tagged for quiz!
so nice of you
@munaqabah – riqqay is the word used in Kuwait and Iraq. Bateekh is typically used among Egyptians. My Saudi husband advised there are at least half a dozen words in arabic which refer to watermelon! Aren’t languages fun?
@tsrivnas – thank you! I’m sure you will get a 100 on the test! (smile)
Yes, so many versions of words for the same thing. Nice that we are reviewing/learning together so that some of us will be on the same page. ha ha
yes there are so many different words…in lebanon we also call watermelon batik, and orange is laymon, and strawberry is fraise, peach is derra2, pear is 2enjas….
in spanish we also use ananas when we refer to pineaples!
its one of the traces of the muslim presence in spain and portugal…
morita: I think the influence is actually going in the other direction. Ananas is the Latin word for pineapple. I sincerely doubt that pineapples where known to the Arabs of Andalusia, nor the Spanish for that matter. As it’s native to South America, it could not be known until the 16th C. at the earliest.
Carol: I’m familiar with the word ‘toot’ to mean mulberry. ’9leeq’ is what I’m used to for raspberry.
Definitely don’t know ‘kimethra,’ but can’t recall what other word I did use… maybe because I’m not that fond of pears?
Don’t forget ‘teen’ or ‘injar/anjar’ for fig.
And all the names for the different dates at different stages of ripeness!
I thought watermelon was “bateekh”. Hmmm.
In Bahrain watermelon is “yaha” and cantelope is “bateekh”
Strawberry is mispelled. It should be closer to “farowlah”
Another name for watermelon used in some parts of Saudi Arabia is “Jeh” (I learned that one from Tash ma Tash!)
@John Burgess:
In the Saudi vernacular all berries are “toot”. We differentiate them by attaching a descriptor. Raspberry is “toot ahmar” (red berries).
Awesome… That’s a funny sounding word for watermelon… we call it “bateekh.” The gulf has completely other terms for so many words, I almost feel like I’m learning Arabic over again =O hehe
Figs are also called Hamat or 7ama6…
Qince is called Safarjal..
mishmish was one of my very first Arabic words, and I’ve loved it ever since!
I never really knew what arugula was; during Obama’s campaign, he was criticized for mentioning it to Iowa farmers, because the media thought it was kind of a yuppie thing… I just happened to come across a picture of it recently, and was surprised to see that it’s “jerjeer”, which is always in the basket of greens served with lunch here.
@Liz – I like mishmish too…it always makes me think of the American slang mish mash!
In the UAE watermelon is usually bateekh and khookh is plum. No wonder I never get sold teh right thing in the GCC