The مِـ of Tools

آلة

root: ء-و-ل / noun / plural: آلات / definition: tool, instrument, device

Last week, we explored ten Arabic words for “refuge” which all followed one of the place and time noun patterns (مَفعَل or مَفعَلة or مَفعِل).

Today, I thought we’d cover another group of patterns—this time for nouns referring to tools (collectively: اسم الآلة) which begin with مِـ.

The following noun patterns in Arabic (with ف-ع-ل representing the root letters, as usual) indicate that the word refers to some sort of tool, instrument, or device:

مِفعال

مِفعَل

مِفعَلة

Note: there are some other forms associated with tools (فَعّال/ـة and فاعول), but we’re just focusing on the ones beginning with مِـ in this post…

Here are a few examples of tool nouns, organised according to their pattern:

مِفعال

مِفتاح key, tool of الفَتح (“opening”)

مِصباح lamp, tool of الصَباحة (“radiance”)

مِقياس gauge or measure, tool of القِياس (“measuring”)

مِكتاب typewriter, tool of الكِتابة (“writing”)

مِذياع radio, tool of الإذاعة (“announcing, spreading, publicising”)

مِقدار measure or scale, tool of التَقدير (“assessing”)

مِنظار telescope or magnifying glass, tool of النَظَر (“looking, observing”)

مِرقاق rolling pin, tool of التَرقيق (“making something thin”)

مِفعَل

مِدفَع cannon, tool of الدَفع (“propelling”) or الدِفاع (“defending”)

مِجهَر microscope, tool of الجَهر (“coming to light, showing”)

مِقَصّ scissors, tool of القَصّ (“cutting”)—note that this noun, and the following one, are derived from geminate roots, i.e. their final two root letters are the same; hence the apparent مِفَعّ pattern

مِجَنّ shield, tool of الجَنّ (“covering, concealing”)

مِمسَح cleaning cloth, tool of المَسح (“wiping”)

مِطبَخ cooking apparatus, tool of الطَبخ (“cooking”)

مِقلى frying pan, tool of القَلي (“frying”)—this noun is derived from a defective root, i.e. its final root letter is weak; in this pattern, the final root letter transforms into ى

مِقوَل gramophone, tool of القَول (“speaking”)

مِفعَلة

مِطبَعة printer, tool of الطَبع (“printing”)

مِكنَسة broom, tool of الكَنس (“sweeping”)

مِقَمّة broom, tool of القَمّ (“sweeping”)—another geminate root here

مِقلاة frying pan, tool of القَلي (“frying”)—note that this noun is from the same root (and, indeed, has the same meaning) as مقلى, which we saw above; the only difference is that مقلاة is in the مفعلة form, the ى in مقلى becomes a regular alif when the ـة is added in مقلاة

You’ll come across these patterns quite often, even in nouns you perhaps wouldn’t immediately think of as “tools”, such as مِحوَر and مِعوَل.

Do you know of any other tool nouns that follow these patterns?

.في أمان الله