Arabic vocabulary
بِنَاءbuilding in Arabic
بِنَاء is how you say “building” in Arabic. Hear it pronounced and see it used in a real example sentence from classical texts below.
Root ب ن ي (b-n-y)noun (verbal noun / maṣdar)Pronounced bināʾ
Meaning of building in Arabic
- building, construction — the act of erecting or framing something — a house, tent, or other structure — the opposite of demolishing it
- a building, structure, edifice — the concrete result of building; also used of construction in general, e.g. of ships
- (grammar) indeclinability — a word's fixed, invariable ending, not caused by any governing word
Bināʾ is the standard verbal noun of banā ("to build"), used for the physical construction of houses, tents, or ships. Lane also records a specialised grammatical sense, where bināʾ describes a word that keeps one fixed ending regardless of its role in the sentence, i.e. indeclinability.
Words from the same root
- بَنَىto build, frame, construct (something); opposite of demolishing
- بَنَّىto build much, or repeatedly; to build palaces, or raise structures high
- أَبْنَىto supply someone with a house or tent, or make them build one
- ابْتَنَىto have one's wife conducted to one at marriage; to consummate a marriage (from pitching the bridal tent)
- تَبَنَّىto adopt someone as a son
- بُنْيَانbuilding, construction (a variant verbal noun alongside bināʾ)
Common questions
- How do you say "building" in Arabic?
- بِنَاء (bināʾ) — the verbal noun of banā, "to build," covering both the act of construction and its result, a structure.
- What does the root ب ن ي mean?
- It centres on building and construction — banā "to build," bunyān "a building" — and extends to rearing or bringing someone up, as in tabannā, "to adopt (as a son)."
Definitions synthesised from Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon (E. W. Lane, 1863–1893).
Example sentences
فَمَا تَرَكْتُ لَهُمْ بِنَاءً إِلَّا هَدَمْتُهُ وَلَا إِنَاءً إِلَّا أَكْفَأْتُهُ
So I left them no building that I did not demolish, nor any vessel that I did not overturn.
بِنَاءً — a building. This indefinite noun is the object of 'left', the thing none of which survived, marked by the object ending. Its indefinite ending suits the sweeping 'no building at all' force under the negation. The 'except' clause after it carves out the exception.
From: A Spy in the Enemy Camp →
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