Arabic vocabulary
وَهْمٌdelusion in Arabic
وَهْمٌ is how you say “delusion” in Arabic. Hear it pronounced and see it used in a real example sentence from classical texts below.
Root و ه م (w-h-m)noun (verbal noun / maṣdar)Pronounced wahm
Meaning of delusion in Arabic
- a thought, idea, or notion occurring in the mind — the core lexical sense; plural أَوْهَام
- a presumption, surmise, or supposition — of two possible opinions one wavers between, the less probable one — contrasted with ظَنّ, the stronger, more likely opinion
- doubt, suspicion — given by some lexicographers, though noted as only weakly attested
- imagination, fancy, chimera, illusion, delusion — the sense current in modern Arabic
وَهْمٌ denotes a mental notion that falls short of firm knowledge — an idea, surmise, or fancy that occurs to the mind rather than a certainty. Classical usage contrasts it with ظَنّ (the more probable opinion), making وهم the weaker or outweighed possibility. Its form VIII derivative اتّهم ('to suspect, accuse') is a very common everyday word from this root.
Words from the same root
- وَهِمَto err or make a mistake (e.g. in reckoning); to have a thought occur to the mind while meaning to think of something else
- أَوْهَمَto make someone think, imagine, or suspect a thing
- تَوَهَّمَto presume, surmise, fancy, or suppose something; to imagine
- اِتَّهَمَto suspect or accuse someone of something (impute a thing to them)
Common questions
- How do you say "delusion" in Arabic?
- وَهْمٌ (wahm).
- What is the difference between وَهْم and ظَنّ?
- وَهْم is the less probable of two opinions one wavers between — a presumption or surmise — while ظَنّ is the stronger, more likely opinion.
Definitions synthesised from Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon (E. W. Lane, 1863–1893).
Example sentences
وَهْمٌ فِي قِطَاعَاتِ فِلَاتِهِمْ،
And a delusion is in the remote parts of their plains,
وَهْمٌ — a delusion. A noun standing as the subject of its clause, left indefinite to keep the sense general ('a delusion'). With no 'is' word, it pairs with the location phrase that follows as its predicate, so its bare doer-style nominative form marks it as what the sentence is about.
From: Vigilance Against Worldly Deception →
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