شِبْرٍby an inch

Example sentences

• فَكَانَ إِلَى الْقَرِيَةِ الصَّالِحَةِ أَقْرَبَ بِشِبْرٍ فَجُعِلَ مِنْ أَهْلِهَا

  So he was an inch closer to the righteous village and was made one of its people.

  بِشِبْرٍ — by an inch. This is the preposition 'by' fused to an indefinite noun, expressing the measure of difference: closer by the span of one unit. The preposition governs the noun in the genitive, and the doubled 'n' sound marks it as indefinite, so the phrase quantifies how much nearer he was.

  From: The Joy of Repentance →