The paper examines borrowed lexical units that entered the Russian language from Arabic, which were identified during the analysis of various dictionaries of foreign words. The reception of these lexemes into the Russian literary language and sub-standard vocabulary occurred in different time periods. Arabisms enriched the language system, gave names to lexemes belonging to different lexico-thematic groups. Penetrating into the Russian language, such borrowings have been fully or partially adapted, phonetically preserved or changed their Arabic pronunciation. The aim of the study is to identify the characteristic phonetic features that emerge during the reception of Arabisms. The scientific novelty of the study is determined by the fact that the correspondences and discrepancies between Russian and Arabic vowels and consonants of the lexemes entering the language remain little studied. It is the first time that the phonetic systems of the Russian and Arabic languages have been analysed involving the borrowed vocabulary unused in other studies. The results of the study have shown that unlike the Arabic words themselves, the Arabisms included in the Russian language system are characterised in some cases by the devoicing of consonant sounds, in others by the adaptation to the norms of the Russian phonetic system, in yet other cases by the preservation of the phonetic form of the lexeme.