Fruit and Vegetable Names in Arabic, With Dialect Variants

Arabic Vocabulary Lists > Fruits and Vegetables in Arabic

Fruit in Arabic is فاكهة (fakiha), plural فواكه (fawakih), and vegetables are خضار (khudar). Most fruit names are collective: تين (tin) means figs, and one fig is تينة (tina). The tables below give 30 fruits and 25 vegetables in Modern Standard, Egyptian, Levantine and Gulf Arabic.

The everyday ones are already in our food words table in the same four varieties: apple تفاح (tuffah), banana موز (mawz), orange برتقال (burtuqal), grapes, dates, lemon, watermelon, onion, garlic, cucumber, eggplant and cabbage. This page covers the next 55, so the two lists don't overlap. Transliteration follows the same scheme: kh is the ch of Scottish loch, gh is a gargled r, ʿ is ع, ʾ is a glottal stop, and there are no dots under the emphatic letters.

Fruits in Arabic: 30 names in four varieties

Fruits in Arabic mostly keep one word wherever a source records them, and the dialects change only the accent. Pear, peach, plum and tangerine are the exceptions: there the word itself changes. The "One" column is the singular you need for counting: native names add -a, and loanwords take حبة (habbat, a piece of). "Same as MSA" means the dialect source gives the Modern Standard word unchanged. A dash means no source we could check confirmed a form, so the cell stays empty.

Raspberry and blueberry are built from the same two parts in all three dialects: توت (tut), berry, plus a colour, red أحمر (ahmar) or blue أزرق (azraq). The rest of the Arabic colour words, with their feminine forms, work the same way after a noun.

Egyptian forms are checked against Lingualism's Egyptian food vocabulary, Levantine against its Lebanese list, and Gulf against GulfArabic.com's market lesson and Amin Academy's Qatari fruit and vegetable lists. Wiktionary's dialect entries fill the gaps, such as the Gulf word for pear, ʿarmut. The Gulf column has the most dashes because the Gulf word lists we could find are the shortest. For more Gulf vocabulary, see our Gulf Arabic courses and books.

Vegetables in Arabic: 25 names in four varieties

Vegetables in Arabic are خضار (khudar) or خضروات (khudrawat). Several of the 25 below are descriptions rather than names. Bell pepper is "Roman pepper" in Egypt, فلفل رومي (filfil rumi), and "cold pepper" in the Gulf, فلفل بارد (filfil barid). Cauliflower is زهرة (zahra), "flower", in the Gulf and in Jordan and Palestine. The herbs at the bottom are sold by the bunch and have no singular.

Fruit and vegetable words that change by country

Tomato changes the most: طماطم (tamatim) in Egypt, بندورة (banadura) in the Levant and طماط (tumat) in the Gulf, while Cairo also says قوطة (ʾuta). Each is a separate loan. Banadura comes from Italian pomodoro, Egyptian tamatim from Spanish tomate, and ʾuta from Ottoman Turkish kavata, a green, bitter tomato. The table collects the words most likely to trip you up, with Iraqi and Moroccan forms where a source gives them.

Five false friends at the greengrocer

Five words name a different fruit or vegetable depending on where you say them, and each one can put the wrong thing in your bag.

خوخ khokh is a peach in Cairo and can be a plum in Amman

Egyptians use khokh for peaches and barʾuʾ for plums, and Gulf speakers say khukh for peaches. In Jordan and Palestine, khokh is regionally the plum and a peach is dirraʾ. Lingualism's Lebanese list gives khokh for both.

بطاطا batata is a potato in Beirut and a sweet potato in Cairo

The Egyptian potato is batatis, and the shorter batata means sweet potato there. A Lebanese speaker who wants a sweet potato adds hilwe, sweet.

ليمون laymun is an orange in Lebanon

Lebanese speakers say laymun for oranges and laymun hamud, sour laymun, for lemons. Wiktionary marks the orange sense as Lebanese and the lemon sense as Syrian. Everywhere else laymun is a lemon.

باجلا bajilla is broad beans in the Gulf, not peas

Levantine bazilla, peas, and Gulf bajilla sound like one word. The Gulf word is the broad bean, the same bean Egypt cooks as ful.

بطيخ battikh can be a melon in the Gulf

Egypt and the Levant use battikh for watermelon. Gulf Arabic also uses it for the cantaloupe, and watermelon is raggi in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province. GulfArabic.com still lists battikh as the most common Gulf word for watermelon, and our food words page gives yihh as the Gulf word. Gulf watermelon has three names, so point before you pay.

One fig, two figs: how Arabic counts fruit

Arabic names most produce as a collective and makes the singular by adding -a. تين tin is figs in general; تينة tina is one fig. The same pattern runs through animal names with their singulars and plurals, such as dajaj, chickens, and dajaja, one chicken.

Modern Standard Arabic makes two with -tan, تينتان (tinatan), and three to ten with the -at plural, ثلاث تينات (thalath tinat), three figs. Loanwords like mango and avocado have no -a form, so you count them in pieces: حبة مانجو (habbat mango), one mango. Gulf speakers count potatoes the same way: GulfArabic.com gives حبة بطاط (habbat butat) for one potato.

Egyptian has its own singular ending, -aya. Wiktionary records farawlaya, one strawberry, and the potato and lettuce entries give batatsaya and khassaya.

A word list gets you as far as pointing. To ask for a kilo of something you also need a verb for "want" and a number, and our 50 basic Arabic sentences, word by word cover both. The most frequent Arabic words fill in the rest. If you are learning for Beirut or Amman, start with our Levantine Arabic courses and books.

Frequently asked questions

What are the Arabic names for fruits?

Fruit is fakiha in Arabic, plural fawakih. Most fruit names are collective nouns that add -a for a single piece: tin is figs and tina is one fig, rumman is pomegranates and rummana is one. Loanwords such as mango and avocado are counted with habbat, a piece of: habbat mango is one mango.

What are the 10 common names of fruits?

In Modern Standard Arabic: tuffah (apple), mawz (banana), burtuqal (orange), ʿinab (grapes), tamr (dates), battikh (watermelon), laymun (lemon), farawla (strawberry), khawkh (peach) and mishmish (apricot). Spoken dialects change some of them: strawberry is frez in Lebanon and Syria, and a peach is dirraʾ in Jordan and Palestine.

How do you say vegetables in Arabic?

Vegetables are khudar or khudrawat in Modern Standard Arabic. Egyptians say khudar, Lebanese speakers say khudra, and Gulf speakers say khudur or khadrawat. The word comes from the root for green, the same root as akhdar.

Why is tomato called banadura in the Levant?

Because each region borrowed its own word. Levantine banadura comes from Italian pomodoro, Egyptian tamatim from Spanish tomate, and the Cairo word ʾuta from Ottoman Turkish kavata, a green, bitter variety of tomato. The Gulf says tumat and Morocco says matisha.

Does khokh mean peach or plum?

It depends on the country. In Egypt and the Gulf, khokh is a peach, and Egyptians call a plum barʾuʾ. In Jordan and Palestine, khokh can be a plum and a peach is dirraʾ. Lingualism's Lebanese list gives khokh for both fruits, so in Beirut, ask which one the seller means.

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