this post was submitted on 01 Mar 2025
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In Arabic عبادة (worship) and إبادة (extermination) sound nothing alike and are obviously spelled differently, the past tense (root form) of each is very different عبد vs باد. However transliterated into English and many other languages they end up being the same: ibadah. Other words that are sometimes confused by non-Arabic speakers include مكة (Makkah) and المقة (Almaqah) which sound nothing alike in Arabic but has been a source of conspiracies among non-Arabic speakers who think that they are etymologically related.
I think I actually learned the word عبادة from transliteration now that you mention it. Thanks for pointing that out!
You are welcome. Don't feel bad about it, in Arabic p and b, and f and v, sound the same and are often confused. Pepsi gets transliterated as بيبسي bibsi for example, Arabic also doesn't have e or o. I just wish people wouldn't start conspiracy theories based on transliterations. In some languages election and erection are easily confused, now that could be the seed for a fun conspiracy.