Arabic vocabulary
قَلَقanxiety in Arabic
قَلَق is how you say “anxiety” in Arabic. Hear it pronounced and see it used in real example sentences from classical texts below.
Root ق ل ق (q-l-q)noun (verbal noun / maṣdar)Pronounced qalaq
Meaning of anxiety in Arabic
- unsettledness, restlessness — the literal sense: not fixed, steady, or at rest in one's place
- disquiet, agitation, anxiety — the extended, now-standard sense: a disturbed, unquiet state of mind
قَلَق is the standard word for anxiety or worry, extending from the concrete sense of something not staying fixed in place to the emotional sense of disquiet, agitation, and unrest.
Words from the same root
- قَلِقَto become unsettled, restless, or disquieted (form I verb)
- قَلَّقَto disquiet or disturb someone (form II, causative)
- أَقْلَقَهُhe disquieted/disturbed him; also, he moved a thing from its place (form IV)
- قَلِقٌunsteady, loose
- قَلَاقَةٌlooseness, e.g. in an expression
Common questions
- How do you say "anxiety" in Arabic?
- قَلَق (qalaq) — literally an unsettled, restless state, extended to mean disquiet or anxiety.
- What does the root ق ل ق convey?
- A sense of being unsettled, unsteady, or restless — whether physically not fixed in place or emotionally disturbed and agitated.
Definitions synthesised from Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon (E. W. Lane, 1863–1893).
Example sentences
لحظة أثمرت حرارة القلق ألف سنة،
A moment bore the heat of anxiety for a thousand years.
القَلَقِ — of anxiety. al- = 'the'; qalaq means 'anxiety, restlessness' — the 'of…' word: 'of anxiety'.
From: Adam's Descent →قَالَ الصدّيق وَقد اشْتَدَّ بِهِ القلق
The Truthful One, overwhelmed with anxiety, said.
الْقَلَقُ — anxiety. The subject of 'intensified', nominative ('-u'), after its verb — his worry. What had grown sharp in Abu Bakr.
From: The Night of the Migration →فَزَالَ القلق وطاب عَيْش الماكث
So anxiety vanished, and the resident's life became pleasant.
— the anxiety. The '-u' ending marks this as the subject that vanished, placed after its verb in the normal order. The noun is the restless churn of worry, now said to be gone.
Related words
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