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I have always been fascinated by word manipulation, so I started this project as a personal challenge.
I manipulate Arabic words and transform them into their meaning, and I made a total of 40 illustrated words. Also, there are pronunciation of those words above every picture that will hopefully help you to learn something new!
More info: behance.net
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#1
Cat - Qitt
Final score:
188points
Notchimine Mette 8 years ago
Very informative. I love languages. Thanks for explaining the differences :) This would actually make a nice tattoo :)
Best Packaging Viet Nam 8 years ago
By Now Cat | Quit
https://teespring.com/catquit 1b-58a6cf56759de.jpg 
Best Packaging Viet Nam 8 years ago
https://teespring.com/catquit#pid=2&cid=2397&sid=front
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Anne Stander 8 years ago
These are so lovely! As a beginning Arabic student, I appreciate these a lot!
Abigail Leonard 8 years ago
This one say qatt. Basically it's the transliteration of how it's pronounced in English. I have never heard anyone use this word for cat in Arabic. Bissah is what they use in shami dialect.
Amr Hassan 8 years ago
Actually it is pronounced /Qitt/. it's the standard [Fus'ha] Arabic word, but as you know standard Arabic is commonly not used in most Arab World countries.
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Lars Helgeby 7 years ago
Qitt is a male cat; Qittah is a female cat. Qitt in vernacular arabic also means 'pussy'! :)
RELATED:
#2
Fox - Thaealab
Final score:
117points
Sana Taimur 8 years ago
Doesn't ث sounds more like 'sa' rather than 'tha' ته???? Shouldn't word should sound like 'saghlab'???? ( I am one of those unfortunate urdu speaking people who can kind of read arabic without the understanding of words so forgive me for asking if this is a silly question)
#3
Whale - Hout
Final score:
96points
Wisal Ahdab 8 years ago
The ح letter is a bit tricky as it doesn't have an equivalent in english, but best try would be: Hout.
Susanna Vesna 8 years ago
Man, you write "H" in the beginning of a word and the Brits will just ignore it. Better make it a "Kh" :P
JoJo Zawawi 7 years ago
Except that "KH" is a totally different sound in Arabic than "H". Arabic has "H", "h" and "KH" and they are three completely different sounds.
Load More Replies... #4
Koala - Koala
Final score:
88points
Master Markus 8 years ago
It's art, ya silly bum, it's not inherently "useful".
Load More Replies... #5
Dog - Kalb
Final score:
78points
Darek Olszewski 8 years ago
One of the worse insults in Arcic to refer to somebody 'ya kalb'! Am I right? :)
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Noëlle-Nono Friedli 8 years ago
kalb is in german the word for some baby animals (like baby cow or baby whale...) ;)
#6
Coffee - Qahuwa
Final score:
77points
Linda Soni. 8 years ago
I think a person who speaks arabic would definitely understand swahili.
IRefuseToBePoliticallyCorrect 8 years ago
This type of guide can be usefull e.g in japanese, in arabic they have alphabet like latin, cyrilic so you only have to learn letters and sounds of the words (like Englishman and russian).
#7
Giraffe - Zarafa
Final score:
74points
Abigail Leonard 8 years ago
I can read it just fine. Took about one week of half assed effort. Probably half as much effort as your bitching about it on every picture.
Tasneem Adamji 8 years ago
Being in Africa surrounded by these most graceful animals , this is what i connect to most and i have done Arabic Calligraphy at AUC - must say you have taken this art to a whole a new level : Elf Mabrouk ! and thank you for sharing it with the world!! Jameel Jiddan!!!!!!
Paula Tom 8 years ago
True, but you could learn to read Arabic if you knew what the words meant. You might not be able to speak or understand the language, but being able to read a foreign alphabet as it's English translation is still pretty amazing.
Load More Replies... #8
Duck - Batt
Final score:
62points
Darek Olszewski 8 years ago
It's not a long 'a' in this word We should put the letter alif in order to make 'a' sound longer.
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Huanimalism 8 years ago
Duck in Arabic is a bit tricky, for "Batt" means ducks, and "Batta" means duck as in one duck... it is a feminine noun
#9
Watermelon - Batikh
Final score:
54points
Sunny Jamil 8 years ago
Bateekh. In an Arab Driving School comedy skit on YouTube, the instructor was named Aboo Bataataa Abu Bateekhah ( ابو بطاطا ابو بطيخة ), as in he is "The Father of Potato, the son of The Father of Watermelon." :-D
#10
Citadel - Qale'a
Final score:
52points
Monish Chatterjee 7 years ago
Interesting- in India (from Urdu, or derivative Hindi), a common word for a citadel or fortress is Qila- such as Purana Qila (the Old Fortress in Delhi), or Laal Qila (the famous Red Fort, also in Delhi).
Lingua e Cultura Arabe 8 years ago
salam ya Mahmoud I just wrote in my blog about you and your amazing work. If you want to see it in Portugues (my language) just take a look: http://www.arabeegipcio.com/2017/05/40-palavras-arabe-ilustradas.html
Ayşe Cohen 8 years ago
We use the same word in Turkish for citadel/fortress- Kale (think: Pamukkale, Rüm Kalesi)! Now I know where it came from! Beautiful illustrations- How did you create them all?
#11
Mouse - Fa'ar
Final score:
39points
#12
Rabbit - Arnab
Final score:
38points
#13
Cairo - Alqahera
Final score:
34points
#14
Lama - Lama
Final score:
33points
Sunny Jamil 8 years ago
Yes, the word is "llama" in English. They are common in the Americas and not in many other places that the word can be really foreign for Arabic-speaking places. :)
Load More Replies... #15
Monkey - Qerrd
Final score:
32points
#16
Gazelle - Ghazal
Final score:
31points
Notchimine Mette 8 years ago
Too many horns for a gazelle. This is more a reindeer. Are reindeer classified as gazelles too?
Master Markus 8 years ago
No, they are not. They're deer. Anyway it just looks like a deer, not a reindeer specifically.
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Varjosielu 8 years ago
Still, this is an artists interpretation, not a zoologically correct drawing (nor is it intended to be as one).
#17
Shark - Qearsh
Final score:
31points
Ariel Roper 8 years ago
And without the red dots it wouldn't be the word. Congrats on missing the entire point of the piece as per illustrating the word with it's meaning to be a failed art critic :^).
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#19
Cheetah - Fahd
Final score:
30points
Brendon Kaufman 8 years ago
@Madelaine the words are written in Arabic script below. The pictures use the Arabic script of the given word as the base, then illustrate the meaning of the word with additional art (as well as some artistic liberties taken with the letters, but this is incredibly common in Arabic Calligraphy)
Madelaine Mimi Boothby 8 years ago
these are really beautiful. Are they actually based on the derivations of the letters or are you just making pretty art from them?
#20
She - Hia
Final score:
29points
MadamButterfly 8 years ago
No need to be a smart a*s,your just ignorant, not all Arabs wear a hijab.
Load More Replies... #21
Eagle - Nesr
Final score:
25points
Jasser Yaakoubi 8 years ago
I like it; one thing to point out though: نسر is vulture, عقاب is eagle... We've had this misconception for a while now.
#22
Peacock - Tawus
Final score:
24points
#23
Rhino - Khuratiat
Final score:
23points
MuhaMed ZaKi 8 years ago
I always heard the word khurtit but i dont know what it mean until now Lol ( i thought its kind of insect or something else)
Huanimalism 8 years ago
It is also "Wahid Al Qarn" which is commonly used and it latterly means "Uni horn"
#24
Bicycle - Diraja
Final score:
23points
Varjosielu 8 years ago
So you mean to tell that the artist doesn't know his own language?
Load More Replies... #25
Octopus - Ekhtabout
Final score:
22points
#26
Crown - Taj
Final score:
21points
#27
Bear - Dob
Final score:
20points
#28
Owl - Buma
Final score:
19points
#29
Female camel - Naqa
Final score:
18points
#30
Freedom - Hurria
Final score:
17points
#31
Lion - Asad
Final score:
16points
Barbara Delahunty 8 years ago
This one has been manipulated too much, it's difficult to see the letters
Othman Ramzi 8 years ago
when you see only the red lines you will see the word
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#33
Seal - Foqma
Final score:
15points
#34
Tea - Shay
Final score:
14points
Kenza Zine El Abidine 8 years ago
I do believe is shai .. it's not pronounced Tshai that's why it can't be spelled with a c
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#36
Ink - Heabr
Final score:
12points
#37
Elephant - Feel
Final score:
12points
Othman Ramzi 8 years ago
For people who can't see it, its only the head of an elephant shaped in squares
Noah Westeneng 8 years ago
I think it is the head of the elephant, the ear is at the right site
#38
Passion - Eashq
Final score:
11points
#39
Ox - Thur
Final score:
11points
Nadim Mahjoub 8 years ago
For a few words you have used standard arabic pronunciation in the transliteration not Egyptian pronunciation
Master Markus 8 years ago
No, no Amy, you're thinking about it wrong. The circle is a ring in the nose, and the tallest line is the horn. It's the face.
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#40
Rams - Jiddi
Final score:
10points
Add New Image
What do you think ?
Eve Mas 8 years ago
Here's the thing, I like the idea, quite interesting. I can read Arabic. So I tried to read them without looking at the standard written form. Some of them were perfectly legible, but the rest were unreadable because of the extreme manipulation. Otherwise it's quite useful for learning.
Asma Saloom 8 years ago
This is brilliant. I've been searching for picture mnemonics to help students correlate Arabic letter shapes to words beginning with that sound, like the Read Write Inc. picture cards for English letters. Would you be interested in working on a product like that? It could be correlated to either English words (for non-native students of Arabic, as in the example URL posted below) or Arabic words, or perhaps both, and maybe multiple versions would be needed for the connectors. tha.png 
Lemur 8 years ago
Nice and beautiful way to learn a language that doesn't use normal alphabet.
Master Zicius 8 years ago
This is so cool! I actually made a very similar post about Chinese just a short while ago (many Chinese characters were actual illustrations in their original forms)! It's fascinating to see how very different languages can still share this kind of visual element. Thanks for sharing!
Eve Mas 8 years ago
Here's the thing, I like the idea, quite interesting. I can read Arabic. So I tried to read them without looking at the standard written form. Some of them were perfectly legible, but the rest were unreadable because of the extreme manipulation. Otherwise it's quite useful for learning.
Asma Saloom 8 years ago
This is brilliant. I've been searching for picture mnemonics to help students correlate Arabic letter shapes to words beginning with that sound, like the Read Write Inc. picture cards for English letters. Would you be interested in working on a product like that? It could be correlated to either English words (for non-native students of Arabic, as in the example URL posted below) or Arabic words, or perhaps both, and maybe multiple versions would be needed for the connectors. tha.png
Lemur 8 years ago
Nice and beautiful way to learn a language that doesn't use normal alphabet.
Master Zicius 8 years ago
This is so cool! I actually made a very similar post about Chinese just a short while ago (many Chinese characters were actual illustrations in their original forms)! It's fascinating to see how very different languages can still share this kind of visual element. Thanks for sharing!
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