سَكَنَ dwell in Arabic
سَكَنَ is how you say “dwell” in Arabic.
Root س ك ن s-k-n. verb (form I). sakana.
Arabic
English
The audio uses AI voices.
Meaning of dwell in Arabic
- dwell, inhabit, reside (in a house or place) sakana l-dāra — to live in a house; the inf. n. for this sense is suknā.
- be or become still, motionless, at rest; calm down, subside said of anything that had been moving — wind, heat, cold, rain, pain, anger — once its motion or force has gone away.
- trust in, rely upon, feel at ease with sakana ilayhi/ilayhā — to be tranquil and secure in reliance on someone or something; used in the Qur'an of a husband and wife.
- become poor, lowly, or humble a rarer sense — to become as one termed miskīn.
Example sentence
فصل إيّاك والمعاصي فإنها أزالت عزّ اسجدوا، وأخرجت إقطاع اسكن يا آدم
Beware of sins, for they removed the honor of 'bow down,' and expelled the estate of 'dwell, O Adam.'
اسْكُنْ 'dwell'
A command 'dwell!, settle!' to 'you' (singular); quoted from the address to Adam.
The English is machine-translated.
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How it is used
The same root underlies the grammatical term for a quiescent, vowelless consonant (as opposed to one that is 'moved'), showing how central the idea of stillness is to the whole family — from calming a feeling to settling in a home.
Words from the same root
- سكّنهُ to still, calm, or silence (something); the causative of sakana
- اسكن to settle, house, or lodge someone
- استكن to become humble, abased, or submissive
- تَمَسْكَنَ to act poor, feign humility or destitution
- سُكْنَى dwelling, tenancy; the act of inhabiting a place
- سَكِينَةٌ tranquility, calm, stillness of mind
- سِكِّينٌ knife
Common questions
- How do you say "dwell" in Arabic?
- سَكَنَ (sakana) — literally to come to rest or settle in a place.
- What is the difference between سَكَنَ and سَكَّنَ؟
- سَكَنَ (form I, sakana) means to be/become still or to dwell somewhere; سَكَّنَ (form II, sakkana) is the causative — to make something still or calm it down.
Related words
Definitions summarised from Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon (E. W. Lane, 1863–1893).