dabke

/ˈdɑbkɛ/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.25 in modern English

Scrabble Score

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Syllables

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

Uncountable

"My wife is Jordanian and has family who have lived and worked in Dubai and Abu Dhabi for years. During our time in the U.A.E., we ate with them, drank arak, watched them dance the dabke late into the evening."

Borrowed from North Levantine Arabic دَبْكة (dabka) and South Levantine Arabic دَبْكة (dabke).

dabkes (plural) dabka (alternative) dabkah (alternative) dabkeh (alternative) dabki (alternative) debka (alternative)

Questions

How do you pronounce dabke?

The recorded pronunciation is /ˈdɑbkɛ/.

What does dabke mean?

A folk dance of the Levant.

Where does dabke come from?

How to pronounce dabke

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “dabke”.

Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈdɑbkɛ/) so you know which sounds to aim for.

Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “dabke”.

Repeat and practice — Say “dabke” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.