Why Arabic Is Terrific (2011)

Arabic, on the other hand, twists healthy minds in twelve ways:

Nearly all Arabic words consist of a three-consonant root slotted into a pattern of vowels and helper consonants. There are a few words that take a regular plural suffix, but most of the time to make a plural you have to change the structure of the word quite dramatically:

This holds even for borrowed words:

Other Semitic languages have broken plurals, but as with other unusual language features Arabic runs this one furthest into the end zone. Arabic has a large number of dialects, some of which are not mutually intelligible, but all educated Arabs will know the formal written language, which they consider to be a higher form of their day-to-day speech.

Source: idlewords.com