Seven Arabic Passive Participles Meaning “Infatuated”

طُفولة

root: ط-ف-ل / noun / definition: childhood

Isn’t it interesting how places from our childhood seem smaller when we revisit them?

Maybe it’s that we’ve grown physically—sure—and the space is narrower, relative to our bodies. But maybe it’s also our worldview that has expanded and, subsequently, made our past seem that little bit more limited.

Well, that’s just an afternoon reflection as I type from my childhood home in Majorca, a house without Wi-Fi in a small village that overlooks the sea and buzzes with the hums of crickets.

And whether it’s me or my worldview that has grown, this place embraces me tighter with each return.

Something about being here made me want to write a synonym post today, and the word “infatuated” in my pages-long list of post ideas caught my attention.

So here we are—looking at seven words in Arabic that all mean “infatuated” and happen to be passive participles (we’ll come back to why at the end):

مُتَيَّم

root: ت-ي-م

Our first word on this list is a form II passive participle from a hollow root, literally meaning “to be enslaved or blindly subservient”. Two fitting descriptions of the state of someone infatuated, no?

مَشغوف

root: ش-غ-ف

مَشغوف is a form I passive participle, derived from a root denoting passion. From ش-غ-ف, we also get شَغِف and شَغوف which both mean “infatuated” too (the latter is the more emphatic form of the former one).

مُغرَم

root: غ-ر-م

A form IV passive participle here: مُغرَم is related to love but also suffering a loss. And having to pay a fine. Maybe this tells us that infatuation is a bit like that time I drove in the bus lane—but what do I know?

مَفتون

root: ف-ت-ن

Under a root related to temptation, fascination, and torture, we find this form I passive participle. And what a concise yet comprehensive summary of infatuation it is: a torturous, desirous state of fascination.

مُستَهتَر

root: ه-ت-ر

With مُستَهتَر, we arrive at our first form X passive participle on the list. Its root is linked to negligence, ridicule, and recklessness—so this word brings the focus to the risible state that infatuation brings someone to.

مُهَوَّس

root: ه-و-س

مُهَوَّس is a form II passive participle from a hollow root that relates to being confused and dazzled, as well as being driven crazy and losing oneself. أَهوَس is a diptote (ممنوع من الصرف) from the same root also meaning “infatuated”.

مُستَهام

root: ه-و-م

Rounding off our little, not-comprehensive list is this form X passive participle. It’s derived from a hollow root that relates to being carried away, wandering aimlessly, and being robbed of one’s senses.

Notice how all of the words in this list are passive (not active) participles.

A passive participle (اسم مفعول) denotes the object of an action—not the one in control of performing the action.

So, through this list, we understand that a person who is infatuated is seen as being helplessly overpowered by their emotions. They are without control, without say in the matter, and the victim of this emotional and psychological state.

Interesting, huh?

To go back to the topic I mentioned at the start—childhood—it is unfathomable that the entire population of children in Gaza are not only being denied a childhood, but are being denied the basic necessities of life: food, water, shelter, healthcare, and safety.

Gazans have been forcibly starved and tortured for hundreds of days on end (not to mention the decades of abuse they have faced preceding this period), with no respite.

The least that we can do is to do the most that we can do. In a world of blind eyes, start by looking.

.إلى اللقاء