Tag Archives: vocabulary

Dictionary Finds: مراح

شَلّال root: ش-ل-ل / noun / plural: شَلّالات / definition: waterfall It’s been a beautifully busy long weekend. Beach walks, waterfalls, countryside drives—oh, and still stealing some minutes here and there to upload videos to my YouTube channel. But it’s back to my laptop now and a return to the Dictionary Finds series…

Root Exploration: ء-ر-ب

مُسْتَشْفى root: ش-ف-ي / form X passive participle / plural: مُستَشفَيات / definition: hospital Four hours is how long we spent in A&E yesterday. And it’s interesting how the brain keeps itself busy during those drawn-out periods of waiting on seemingly uncomfortable-by-design chairs. My mind, for example, kept wandering between Subway sandwiches and the spacingContinue reading “Root Exploration: ء-ر-ب”

Arabic Observations: ذانِكَ

بُرْهان root: ب-ر-ه-ن / noun / plural: بَراهين / definition: proof It seems that I’ve unintentionally created a new series of posts this Ramadan, and now I can’t help but add to it. We’ve been looking at variations of ذلك/تلك in the Qur’an—specifically, how these demonstratives are modified with pronoun suffixes: But things don’t endContinue reading “Arabic Observations: ذانِكَ”

Arabic Observations: تِلكَ and تِلكُما and تِلكُم

التَّوْطين root: و-ط-ن / form II verbal noun / definition: to grant citizenship Ten-thousand-and-something days after my birth, Cyprus has finally acknowledged my existence. I can’t blame them for not granting me citizenship earlier though, as—well, how could they have known me? I was born in a London borough and have, since then, spent aContinue reading “Arabic Observations: تِلكَ and تِلكُما and تِلكُم”

Arabic Observations: ذلكَ and ذلكِ and ذلكُم

مُنْتَشِر root: ن-ش-ر / form VIII active participle / definition: widespread, ubiquitous We all know ذٰلِكَ. And how could we not? It’s that ubiquitous demonstrative pronoun meaning “that”. But have you also heard of ذٰلِكِ and ذٰلِكُمْ? Because those are demonstrative pronouns too—but ubiquitous? Not so much. More like rare, actually. So, where can weContinue reading “Arabic Observations: ذلكَ and ذلكِ and ذلكُم”

Arabic Observations: The Cross-Linguistic-ness of “Eating” a Beating

الضَّرْب root: ض-ر-ب / form I verbal noun / definition: beating, hitting I left the house this morning, planning to attend the 10:30am sit-down-and-write session at my university. But after window-(and actual)-shopping in Regent Street, I bought myself a matcha oat latte (why does everything have oats in nowadays?) and decided to work from aContinue reading “Arabic Observations: The Cross-Linguistic-ness of “Eating” a Beating”