شَيْخَانelderly

Example sentences

• قال رجل منهم اللهم كان لي أبوان شيخان كبيران، وكنت لا أغبق قبلهما أهلاً ولا مالاً

  One of them said: 'O Allah, I had elderly parents, and I never provided drink to my family or wealth before them.'

  شَيْخَانِ — elderly. This is a dual adjective describing the two parents, and its dual ending agrees with the dual noun it follows. Arabic makes a describing word echo its noun's 'two-ness', so the form itself signals it qualifies a pair, not one or many.

  From: Three Men Saved by Sincerity →