دَمْع
root: د-م-ع / noun / plural: دُموع / definition: tear
October is the month of the pomegranate, according to the fruit tree calendar on my wall. Which means I’m begrudgingly ushering in the wintery months where a gloomy disposition clouds over me and clings on until the dawn of spring.
It happens every year and I’m sure it has everything to do with the decrease in sunshine hours here in the northern hemisphere.
The calendar hasn’t brought me to tears yet. But when it inevitably does—and after I’ve finished writing this post—at least I’ll have a long-ish list of ways to say “to cry” in Arabic…
بَكى / يَبكي
here’s our standard verb for “to cry”—a form I defective verb
مَئِقَ / يَمأَقُ
this form I hamzated verb means “to sob”
check out Seats of the Hamza (ء) for more on the hamza
نَحَبَ / يَنحبُ أو اِنتَحَبَ / يَنتَحِبُ
the form I and VIII verbs from the root ن-ح-ب have the same meaning: “to cry or sob”
نَشَجَ / يَنشِجُ
another form I verb meaning “to sob” here
عَبِرَ / يَعبَر
this one was an unexpected find: the form I verb عبِر / يعبَر (and not عبَر / يعبُر, as we may be more used to seeing or hearing) means “to shed tears”
أَجهَشَ / يُجهِشُ
this form IV verb means “to break into sobs”
we can also find it in the phrase أجهش بالبكاء, “to struggle with tears”
تَرَقرَقَت / تَتَرَقرَقُ عَيناهُ بِالدُّموع
our first phrase in the list includes a form II reduplicated quadriliteral verb and has the meaning of “for one’s eyes to overflow with tears”
أَشهَقَ / يَشهِقُ بِالبُكاء
this phrase, beginning with a form IV verb, means “to burst into tears”
سالَت / تَسيلُ مَذارِفُ عَينَيه
we encountered this phrase, meaning “to shed tears”, in Wehr Wednesdays #60
جادَت / تَجودُ عَيناهُ بِالدَّمع
we have a hollow verb from the root ج-و-د at the start of this phrase
it means “for tears to well from one’s eyes”
اِنفَطَرَ / يَنفَطِرُ بِالبُكاء أو اِنخَرَطَ / يَنخَرِطُ في البُكاء
both of these phrases begin with form VII verbs and carry the meaning of “to break into tears”
أَذرَت / تُذري عَينُهُ الدَّمع
the form IV verb أذرى / يذري is from the root ذ-ر-و
this phrase means “for one’s eye to shed tears”
أَطلَقَ / يُطلِقُ السَّبيل لِعَبرَتِه
I really like this phrase, which means “to let one’s tears flow freely”
عَبرة is another word for “(a) tear”
تَغَرغَرَت / تَتَغَرغَرُ عَينُهُ بِالدَّمع
another form II reduplicated quadriliteral verb here, meaning: “for one’s eye to be bathed in tears”
اِغرَورَقَت / تَغرَورِقُ عَيناهُ بِالدُّموع
this phrase starts with a form XII (yes, the forms go above X!) triliteral (not quadriliteral!) verb from the root غ-ر-ق, and it carries the same meaning as the phrase above
My eyes may not be ثرّة من الدمع (“tear-blurred”, Wehr Wednesdays #132) right now, but maybe أُكفكف الدموع (“I’m holding back tears”, #194) subconsciously? Okay, not really, but I needed to slip this vocabulary in somehow.
And if you’re feeling teary, I hope أن ترقأ دموعك (“your tears cease to flow”, #189) very soon.
!إلى اللقاء
Follow The Arabic Pages on Instagram and Twitter, and find out how you can support this blog!
If you’d like to receive email notifications whenever a new post is published on The Arabic Pages, enter your email below and click “Subscribe”:
The Arabic Pages 
One thought on “Some Arabic Words and Phrases for “to Cry””