The story
- North Levantine Arabic · borrowed fromلَبْنِة
- English todaylabneh
From North Levantine Arabic لَبْنِة (labne), most likely popularized in English by Lebanese emigrants; meanwhile, some alternative forms instead reflect the pronunciation لَبَنِة (labane), an older form more typically retained in Palestinian dialects. Ultimately an unclear derivation of Levantine Arabic لَبَن (laban, “yogurt”) + ـِة (-e, feminine ending).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.