How do you say "displease" in Arabic?

سَاءَ (sāʾa) — it also covers being or becoming evil, bad, or ugly; sāʾahu means 'it displeased/grieved him.'

What does سَآءَ سَبِيلًا mean in the Qur'an?

It works like the exclamation بِئْسَ: 'Evil is it as a way (of acting)!' — a censure of a course of conduct.

سَاءَ displease in Arabic

سَاءَ is how you say “displease” in Arabic.

Root س و أ s-w-ʾ. verb (form I). sāʾa.

Arabic

English

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Meaning of displease in Arabic

to be or become evil, bad, foul, unseemly, or ugly intransitive; used like بِئْسَ for exclamatory censure, e.g. Qur'an 17:34 سَآءَ سَبِيلًا 'evil is it as a way (of acting)!'
to displease, grieve, or vex (someone) transitive (سَآءَهُ 'it grieved him'); given as the opposite of سَرَّ 'to please'

Example sentence

فَيرى كل مَا يسرّه من فضل الله، وكل مَا يسوءه من ذنوبه وَعدل الله فِيهِ

Thus, he sees everything that pleases him as from the grace of Allah, and everything that displeases him as from his sins and the justice of Allah upon him.

يَسُوءُهُ displeases him

Present-tense verb 'grieves, displeases', 'it/he' form; the ending '-hu' adds 'him' — 'displeases him'.

From Returning to God

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How it is used

Sāʾa is often used impersonally like بِئْسَ, followed by a specificative noun in the accusative, to voice censure (as in the Qur'anic sāʾa sabīlan, 'evil is it as a way'). Used with a direct object (sāʾahu), it means to grieve, displease, or vex a person, the opposite of sarrahu 'it pleased him.'

Words from the same root

سَوّأ to corrupt or mar something; to tell someone 'you have done ill' about a deed
أَسَآءَ to do evil, act badly, or do something poorly — opposite of doing well (aḥsana)
استآء to experience evil, displeasure, grief, or anxiety
سَوْءٌ evil, badness (verbal noun of sāʾa)
مَسَآءَةٌ the act of grieving or vexing someone; harm done

Common questions

How do you say "displease" in Arabic?: سَاءَ (sāʾa) — it also covers being or becoming evil, bad, or ugly; sāʾahu means 'it displeased/grieved him.'
What does سَآءَ سَبِيلًا mean in the Qur'an?: It works like the exclamation بِئْسَ: 'Evil is it as a way (of acting)!' — a censure of a course of conduct.

Related words

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