Definition
Bread; the common baked food made from flour and water, eaten as a staple in most meals.
Example
أَكَلْنَا الخُبْزَ مَعَ الحَسَاءِ في العَشَاءِ.
Show translation
We ate bread with soup at dinner.
Etymology
From the Proto-Semitic root *ḫ-b-z, related to baking and heat. Cognates appear across Semitic languages: Hebrew לֶחֶם (leḥem) shares the broader concept, while Aramaic לַחְמָא (laḥmā) and Akkadian akalu reflect parallel roots. The Arabic خُبْز specifically traces to the triliteral root خ-ب-ز (kh-b-z), which in verb form (خَبَزَ, khabaza) means "to bake."
Cultural note
Bread holds deep cultural and spiritual weight across the Arab world. In many households, dropping bread on the floor is considered disrespectful and it is picked up and set aside rather than discarded. The word for "earning a living" in colloquial Arabic is often expressed as "seeking one's خُبْز (khubz)" — a direct parallel to the English "bread-winner." Regional varieties abound: خُبْز عَرَبِيّ (pita/flatbread), خُبْز تَنُّور (tandoor bread), and many others reflect deep local traditions.