This is aSwadesh list ofAfroasiatic languages, specificallyArabic,Hebrew,Classical Syriac,Akkadian,Ge'ez,Coptic,Tarifit,Hausa,Oromo andSomali, compared with that ofEnglish.

Languages compared here are:

• Semitic branch:Arabic,Hebrew (Tiberian),Classical Syriac,Ge'ez,Akkadian
• Egyptian branch:Coptic
• Berber branch:Tarifiyt Berber,Tashelhit
• Chadic branch:Hausa
• Cushitic branch: West-centralOromo (Wallagga dialect),Somali

The Omotic branch is not yet included.

See also:Afroasiatic proto-languages Swadesh lists

See also Swadesh lists for specific Afroasiatic languages:

• Appendix:Akkadian Swadesh list
• Appendix:Amharic Swadesh list
• Appendix:Arabic Swadesh list
• Appendix:Tashelhit Swadesh list
• Appendix:Egyptian Swadesh list
• Appendix:Hausa Swadesh list
• Appendix:Hebrew Swadesh list
  • Appendix:Biblical Hebrew Swadesh list
  • Appendix:Modern Hebrew Swadesh list
• Appendix:Somali Swadesh list
• Appendix:Tigrinya Swadesh list

Notes on Semitic Romanization:

• â,ê,ô stand for the vowels offather[ɑ],day[e] andcore[ɒ] in British English.
• a,e,i,o andu stand for the vowels ofhat[a],get[ɛ],heat[i],hot[ɔ] andfool[u].
• ā,ē,ī,ō andū stand for the same vowels as without the macron, but pronounced longer.[aː],[ɛː],[iː],[ɔː],[uː]
• b,d,f,h,k,l,m,n,p,r,s,t,v,w,y andz stand for their equivalents in English.
• θ stands for theth of Englishthick.[θ]
• ð stands for theth of Englishthis.[ð]
• j stands for thej of Englishjob.[dʒ]
• g stands for theg of Englishgood.[ɡ]
• x stands for the sound of Germanch inAch! orj in Spanishjota.[x]
• ğ stands for the voiced counterpart ofx, much as Spanish intervocalicg.[ɣ]
• š stands for thesh of Englishship.[ʃ]
• ś stands for the sound of Welshll inLloyd.[ɬ]
• ħ stands for the typical roughh sound of Semitic languages.[ħ]
• ʿ stands for the voiced counterpart ofħ.[ʕ]
• ʾ stands for the glottal stop of cockney Englishboʼle ('bottle').[ʔ]
• q stands for ak sound produced from the back of the mouth.[q]
• ṭ,ṣ,ḍ andẓ stand for the sounds derived fromt,s,d andz/ð. These are called the pharyngealized, emphatic, or velarized sounds. They affect the sound of the consonants and vowels that follow or precede; they are made by constricting the pharynx during the articulation of the sound.[tˤ],[sˤ],[dˤ],[zˤ]/[ðˤ]

Since this page contains mostly ancient languages, the Hebrew romanization has been chosen to correspond to the pronunciation of Tiberian (Biblical) Hebrew, rather than to modern Israeli Hebrew. This means that the following developments of Hebrew are not to be taken into account:

• ħ andx merge intox;
• w andv merge intov;
• q andk merge intok;
• ğ andg merge intog;
• ś ands merge intos;
• ð andd merge intod;
• θ,ṭ, andt merge intot;
• ʿ andʾ merge into a glottal stop (ʾ);
• emphaticṣ becomes a non-emphatic affricatets.