A new word or phrase from the Hans Wehr dictionary, every Wednesday. استصغر نفسه (nafsahū) to feel inferior Root: ص-غ-ر Page: 602* Example: “وَلَمّا كانَ واقِفًا بَيْنَ أُولئِكَ العُلَماءِ والخُبَراءِ، اِستَصْغَرَ نَفْسَهُ واِستَمسَكَ بِالصَّمْت” Translation: “and when he was standing among those scholars and experts, he felt inferior and remained silent” Notes: Revise all of…
مِسْكين root: م-س-ك-ن / noun / plural: مَساكين / definition: poor thing If you know me in-person, you’ve probably been fortunate enough to be an unwilling spectator and/or listener to my gleeful blabbering about some dictionary find or linguistic observation. This weekend, my husband—yet again, مسكين…—was in the line of fire as I gushed about…
The Arabic Pages 