Arabic vocabulary
مِثْلُ is how you say “for example” in Arabic. Hear it pronounced and see it used in real example sentences from classical texts below.
وَيَرَى لِيَّ كُلُّ سَنَةٍ عَابِدٌ مِثْلُكَ هَذِهِ الرُّؤْيَا
And every year a devout worshipper like you sees this vision about me.
مِثْلُكَ — like you. This noun means 'like, equal of' and carries the attached '-ka' (you, masculine), so it bundles 'like you' into one word and describes the worshipper as comparable to the addressee. The suffix is the post-noun 'you' form, fixing whom the comparison is to. It paints the seer as a peer of the listener.
From: A Night of Reckoning →وَلَيْسَ كَذَٰلِكَ؛ لِأَنَّ مِثْلُ الطَّبْعِ فِي مَيْلِهِ إِلَى الدُّنْيَا كَالْمَاءِ الْجَارِيِ،
But that is not so; for the disposition, in its inclination toward the world, is like flowing water,
مِثْلُ — the example of. A noun meaning 'the likeness/case of', which heads an 'of' pairing with the next word: 'the case OF the disposition'. As the first half it gives up its own 'the' and draws definiteness from what follows, while serving as the subject of the reason-clause.
From: Guarding the Heart from Heedlessness →ثُمَّ قَالَ لَهُ الثَّالِثَةُ مِثْلُ ذَلِكَ فَاعْرِضْ عَنْهُ
Then the third said the same to him, so turn away from him.
مِثْلُ — like. A noun meaning 'the like of', heading an 'of' chain with the demonstrative after it: 'the like of that', the same thing. It works as what was said. Arabic builds 'the same as that' by setting this noun directly before 'that'.
From: Luqman's Wisdom and Trial →OpenArabic teaches words like مِثْلُ through real bilingual reading with native audio and spaced-repetition practice.
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