Arabic vocabulary
رَحْبَةexpansive in Arabic
رَحْبَة is how you say “expansive” in Arabic. Hear it pronounced and see it used in a real example sentence from classical texts below.
Root ر ح ب (r-ḥ-b)adjective (feminine of رَحْب)Pronounced raḥbah
Meaning of expansive in Arabic
- spacious, wide, roomy, ample — the feminine form of رَحْب, agreeing with feminine nouns such as أَرْض 'land' or دَار 'house, abode' — e.g. أَرْضٌ رَحْبَةٌ 'a spacious land'
رَحْبَة is simply the feminine counterpart of رَحْب, used with feminine nouns like أَرْض (land), دَار (house), or بِلَاد (country) to describe them as wide and roomy. The same root gives the everyday greeting مَرْحَبًا ('welcome'), literally an invitation to ampleness, and appears in the Qur'an (9:118) in the phrase ضَاقَتْ عَلَيْهِمُ الأَرْضُ بِمَا رَحُبَتْ, 'the earth became strait to them despite its spaciousness.'
Words from the same root
- رَحُبَto be, or become, ample, spacious, wide, roomy
- رَحَّبَto welcome someone, greet with marḥaban
- أَرْحَبَto make wide or spacious; (to a horse) 'make room, withdraw'
- رَحْبٌample, spacious, wide, roomy (masc.)
- رُحْبٌampleness, spaciousness, wideness
- رَحِيبٌample, spacious; also, of a person, voracious
- مَرْحَبٌwelcome! (greeting formula, lit. 'ample space')
Common questions
- How do you say "expansive" in Arabic?
- رَحْبَة (raḥbah) — spacious, wide, roomy, said of a place such as a house or a stretch of land.
- What is the connection between رَحْبَة and the greeting مَرْحَبًا?
- Both come from the root ر ح ب, meaning 'to be spacious'; مَرْحَبًا literally invites the guest into ampleness, i.e. 'welcome.'
Definitions synthesised from Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon (E. W. Lane, 1863–1893).
Example sentences
أَرض الْفطْرَة رحبة قابلة لما يغرس فيها،
The soil of innate disposition is expansive and receptive to what is planted in it.
رَحْبَةٌ — expansive. rahba means 'wide, spacious'; the '-un' ending — the description ('…is spacious').
From: Knowledge, Reverence, Obedience →
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