رَحّال root: ر-ح-ل / adjective / plural: رُحَّل / definition: nomadic Every now and then, a wave of embarrassment that I thought had ebbed into nonexistence surges over me once more. Once upon a time, I received feedback for one of my undergrad Linguistics essays and was mortified to find that the teacher had correctedContinue reading “Root Exploration: ر-ح-م”
Category Archives: root exploration
Root Exploration: ء-ب-د
دَهْر root: د-ه-ر / noun / plural: دُهور / definition: long period of time, epoch If you’ve been reading closely, you’ll have noticed that I’ve been talking about time a lot lately. My term of studying here in Doha officially ends next week, and it’s as though I’m inside an hourglass trying to grapple withContinue reading “Root Exploration: ء-ب-د”
Root Exploration: ع-ذ-ب
سِلْسِلة root: س-ل-س-ل / noun / plural: سَلاسِل / definition: series, chain Due to an unexpected series of events, I found myself this weekend somewhere I never thought I’d go: mini golf. As it turns out, I’m quite the pro (for a beginner, anyway). But I bring myself back to more familiar territory now, asContinue reading “Root Exploration: ع-ذ-ب”
Root Exploration: ج-ن-ح
طائِرة root: ط-ي-ر / active participle of form I / plural: طائِرات / definition: airplane A wise woman I met in the Jordanian desert told me to always have my next flight booked before the end of a trip. Good advice that I didn’t take at the time, and that now has me searching forContinue reading “Root Exploration: ج-ن-ح”
Root Exploration: م-د-ن
مُصابَة root: ص-و-ب / passive participle of form IV (feminine) / definition: afflicted, ill After more than two years of successfully dodging Covid, it finally caught me—and my parents—out. At least there’s some solidarity. That annoying cough is still plaguing me as I type this and, over the weekend, I was suffering the worst soreContinue reading “Root Exploration: م-د-ن”
Root Exploration: د-ل-ه-م
ضَحْك root: ض-ح-ك / verbal noun of form I / definition: laughter After two hours and countless retakes, my classmate and I finally managed to record 20 minutes of Arabic conversation today for an assessment. Yes, that’s two hours of attempts for 20 minutes of usable footage. Honestly though, most of the retakes started soonContinue reading “Root Exploration: د-ل-ه-م”
Root Exploration: ع-ر-ق
زَمَن root: ز-م-ن / noun / plural: أَزمان / definition: stretch of time It’s been a long time since our last post in the Root Exploration series. (In all honesty, though, it hasn’t felt long at all to me since I explore roots in the dictionary every day!) I’ve had a few roots written downContinue reading “Root Exploration: ع-ر-ق”
Root Exploration: م-و-ه
بَسيط root: ب-س-ط / adjective / definition: simple What can we get from the root of a word as simple as “water”? In Arabic, quite a lot! Here we are, with the second post in the Root Exploration series, and this time we’re taking a look at the root م-و-ه.
Root Exploration: ك-ش-ف
جَذْر root: ج-ذ-ر / noun / plural: جُذور / definition: root I feel a very nerdy rush of excitement as I begin this post, because it’s the first in the new Root Exploration series! In this series of posts, we’re going to take a single Arabic root and explore all of its different forms, derivatives,Continue reading “Root Exploration: ك-ش-ف”
The Arabic Pages 