Arabic’s Chameleon Words: حقّق

حَقّ

root: ح-ق-ق / noun / definition: truth

After I washed down the social anxieties of last week with a few Kalms‘, I woke up this Monday looking ahead to an empty social calendar for the next two weeks. Huh. Feels odd.

Well, it’ll give me some time to work on creating more content for this blog and beyond. And also to start packing for an ever-nearing trip.

Today, though, feels like a great day for another post in the chameleon words series—where we look at super useful Arabic words that hold multiple meanings.

حَقَّقَ / يُحَقِّقُ is a form II geminate verb derived from the root ح-ق-ق. The root is related to the idea of reality (think حَقيقة, fact, or حَقّ, truth).

The verbal noun associated with حقق / يحقق is تَحقيق, and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say I sprinkled it into the vast majority of my Arabic writing tasks in the final year of my BA.

There’s a reason it featured in Miscellaneous Advanced Phrases for Arabic Essays, you know.

So, what are the meanings of this verb? Let’s take a look:

حَقَّقَ / يُحَقِّقُ (تَحقيق)

to effect, realise, or actualise

to implement, carry out, or fulfill

to set (a record)

to yield (results)

to determine, identify, or pinpoint

to establish, verify, or prove something to be true

to study, investigate, or look into

to interrogate (مع)

to critically edit a text

to do something meticulously

In my essays, I remember I mainly used it in terms of the meanings in the top two lines. Like تحقيق الأهداف (“achieving goals”) or مِن أَجل تحقيق الاستقرار (“in order to realise stability”).

Have you used this chameleon word before?

!مع السلامة