I want a word, sort of like "synonym" or "cognate"
Solution 1:
How about an equivalent? For example, there's the French term talkie-walkie and the English term walkie-talkie, which are different, but which describe exactly the same thing.
The linguistic purists at Canada's Office de la lange francaise recommend the use of an equivalent, which, when you drop the acute accent on the first e, is the same as its English equivalent: equivalent.
Solution 2:
Chinese "饥饿" and Arabic "جوع" are translations [The product or end result of an act of translating] for the English word "hunger".
Solution 3:
Metaphrase [met-uh-freyz] /noun
- a literal translation.
Metaphrase is a functional terminology within "translation theory" which may better describe the precise relationship the OP is discussing.
the Chinese word "饥饿" and the Arabic word "جوع" are metaphrases for the English word "hunger".