A new word or phrase from the Hans Wehr dictionary, every Wednesday.
ضؤل ḍa’ula u (ضآلة ḍa’āla, ضؤولة ḍu’ūla) to be small, tiny, little, scanty, meager, slight, sparse, feeble, faint, thin; to diminish, dwindle, wane, decline, shrink, decrease VI = I
Root: ض-ء-ل
Page: 624*
Example: “راقَبْتُ رِقّةَ تَحَرُّكاتِهِ في ضَوءٍ يَتَضاءَل”
Translation: “I observed the gentleness of his movements under a waning light”
Notes:
- Notice how the form I (ضَؤُلَ / يَضْؤُلُ) and form VI (تَضاءَلَ / يَتَضاءَلُ) verbs from this root carry the same meanings. For more on verb forms, check out Reference: Arabic Verb Forms Table.
- ض-ء-ل is a hamzated root. Take a look at the chart I made in Seats of the Hamza (ء) to see how the hamza’s seat in a word is determined.
Revise all of the vocab from the series on Quizlet:
* The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th Edition
The Arabic Pages 