Arabic vocabulary
ميدانfield in Arabic
ميدان is how you say “field” in Arabic. Hear it pronounced and see it used in a real example sentence from classical texts below.
Root م ي د (m-y-d)nounPronounced maydān
Meaning of field in Arabic
- horse-course, racetrack, hippodrome — Lane's primary, classical sense
- open square, plaza, field — the extended sense behind the modern gloss 'field'
Grammarians traced maydān to the verb māda ('to be in motion, to sway'), explaining the name either from the way a racecourse's sides seem to shake during a race or from the horses wheeling and convulsing within it. From the same headword, historians also used maydān al-khulafāʾ figuratively for the span of a caliph's reign, and ʿaysh maydān for an easy, ample life.
Words from the same root
- مَادَto sway, shake, or become agitated
- مَائِدٌdizzy or seasick, as if swaying
- مَيُودٌconstantly shifting, unsteady, agitated
- مِيدَآءٌthe extent, measure, or distance of something
Common questions
- How do you say "field" in Arabic?
- ميدان (maydān) — originally a horse-course or racetrack, later extended to any open square or field.
- What root does ميدان come from, and what does it mean?
- It is traced to the root م ي د (m-y-d) 'to sway, be in motion,' from the sense of horses wheeling and convulsing on the racecourse.
Definitions synthesised from Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon (E. W. Lane, 1863–1893).
Example sentences
فَالنَّفْسُ تَجْرِي بِطَبْعِهَا فِي مَيْدَانِ الْمُخَالَفَةِ
Thus, the self naturally operates in the field of opposition.
مَيْدَانِ — the field. 'maydan' = 'field, arena'; first half of an 'of' phrase: 'the field of...'.
From: Taming the Lower Self →
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