How do you say "chest" in Arabic?

Chest is صَدْرٌ (ṣadr), from the root ص-د-ر.

What does the root ص-د-ر (ṣ-d-r) mean?

It centers on 'returning or going back' (ṣadara), extending to 'sending back / issuing' (aṣdara) and to 'the front or foremost part,' which is how ṣadr also means chest and, by extension, the head of a gathering or the heading of a book.

صَدْرٌ chest in Arabic

صَدْرٌ is how you say “chest” in Arabic.

Root ص د ر ṣ-d-r. noun (also functions as the verbal noun / maṣdar of Form I). ṣadr.

Arabic

English

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Meaning of chest in Arabic

chest, breast the front part of the body; the excerpt speaks of striking or hurting someone's ṣadr, and of a person 'having a complaint of the ṣadr' (i.e. a chest ailment)
the front, foremost, or upper part (of anything) by extension — e.g. the seat of honor at the head of a gathering, or the heading/opening placed at the start of a piece of writing

Example sentence

ولباس الذل وإهانة الْعَدو وضيق الصَّدْر

And the clothing of humiliation, the enemy's scorn, and tightness of the chest.

الصَّدْرِ of the chest

al- = 'the'; completes the 'of…' phrase: 'of the chest' (tightness of the chest = distress).

From Returning to God

The English is machine-translated.

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How it is used

Beyond the literal body part, ṣadr carries the root's core sense of 'the front, that which faces forward' — hence its tropical use for the head/upper position in a gathering and for the opening or title of a written work.

Words from the same root

صَدَرَ to return, go back; to depart (from water, a place, or an affair)
أَصْدَرَ to send someone/something back; to issue (a saying, an order)
صَدَّرَ to seat someone in the place of honor; to put a heading/title at the start of a piece of writing
تَصَدَّرَ to sit in the seat of honor; to become advanced or promoted; (of a horse) to take the lead with its chest
مُصَادَرَةٌ the exacting of a fine or debt from someone; pressing or suing someone for payment
مَصْدَرٌ verbal noun (infinitive) of the verb ṣadara, denoting the act of returning

Common questions

How do you say "chest" in Arabic?: Chest is صَدْرٌ (ṣadr), from the root ص-د-ر.
What does the root ص-د-ر (ṣ-d-r) mean?: It centers on 'returning or going back' (ṣadara), extending to 'sending back / issuing' (aṣdara) and to 'the front or foremost part,' which is how ṣadr also means chest and, by extension, the head of a gathering or the heading of a book.

Related words

Definitions summarised from Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon (E. W. Lane, 1863–1893).