About Pol

Pol (پل) means 'bridge' in Persian. It teaches Arabic to Persian speakers and Persian to Arabic speakers through what the two languages share.

How it works

Persian and Arabic are not related — Persian is an Iranian (Indo-European) language, Arabic a Semitic one — but they share a script and a very large vocabulary. Persian borrowed Arabic words over thirteen centuries; Arabic borrowed Persian words too, earlier and in smaller numbers. Pol starts from those words and is honest about where they diverge.

• Same meaning (193)Persian took the Arabic word and kept its meaning.
• Shifted meaning (45)Same word, but the meaning has moved. Overlaps, with a twist.
• False friend (37)Looks the same, means something else. Watch out.
• Persian → Arabic (65)This one went the other way: from Persian into Arabic.
• Persian coinage (28)Built in Persian from Arabic parts. Arabic doesn't say it this way.
• Different word (58)The two languages use unrelated words here.

Confidence grades

• Certain (372) — Standard in the dictionaries; no serious doubt.
• Probable (50) — Mainstream view, with reservations or regional variation.
• Disputed (4) — Real disagreement — the note names the alternatives.

Sources

• ʿAlī-Akbar Dehkhoda, Loghatnāme (Dehkhoda Dictionary) — Persian.
• Moḥammad Moʻin, Farhang-e Fārsi — Persian.
• Hans Wehr, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic (ed. J. M. Cowan) — Arabic.
• Edward William Lane, An Arabic–English Lexicon — Classical Arabic.
• A. Asbaghi, Persische Lehnwörter im Arabischen (1988) — Persian words in Arabic.

Entries were compiled from these standard references and cross-checked automatically for spelling and transliteration consistency. They have not yet been checked page by page against the printed dictionaries; the confidence grade says how sure we are.

Framing

A Persian word of Arabic origin is a Persian word. Pol does not rank languages, take sides on language purism, or attach words to any country, sect or politics.

Transliteration

Persian Latin follows Tehran pronunciation (ث س ص are all s). Arabic Latin is a light scholarly scheme (ḥ ṣ ḍ ṭ ẓ ʿ ʾ). IPA is Tehran Persian and Modern Standard Arabic. Audio uses your device's speech voices, which vary in quality.

426 entries. Sister projects: Hebrabic (Hebrew ↔ Arabic), Cognata, Ojalá, Zabaan, Tongwen, Slovo.