سوء poor in Arabic
سوء is how you say “poor” in Arabic.
Root س و أ s-w-ʾ. noun (verbal noun / maṣdar). sūʾ.
Arabic
English
The audio uses AI voices.
Meaning of poor in Arabic
- evil, harm, ill that which displeases, grieves, or vexes someone
- bad, poor, of low quality used in construct phrases, e.g. sūʾ al-ḥaẓẓ 'bad luck'
Example sentence
النَّفْسُ مَجْبُولَةٌ عَلَى سُوءِ الأَدَبِ
The self is inherently inclined towards poor manners.
سُوءِ poor
'su'' = 'badness, poorness'; first half of an 'of' phrase: 'the badness of...'. Takes the 'of' ending after the preposition.
The English is machine-translated.
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How it is used
Often paired with another noun in a construct phrase, where it works like the English adjective "bad/poor" — سوء الفهم "misunderstanding", سوء الحظ "bad luck". The base verb سآء is also used impersonally, like بئس, to open a sentence of censure, as in the Qur'anic سآء سبيلا "evil is it as a way".
Words from the same root
- أَسَاءَ to do wrong, act badly
- سَوَّأَ to spoil or mar something
- اِسْتَاءَ to feel aggrieved, displeased
- سَيِّئ evil, bad
- مَسَاءَة harm, displeasure
Common questions
- How do you say "poor" in Arabic?
- سُوء (sūʾ) — used in construct phrases like سوء الحظ (bad luck) or سوء الفهم (misunderstanding).
- What is the root of سوء?
- The triliteral root س و أ (s-w-ʾ), meaning to be evil or bad; it also gives أساء (to do wrong) and استاء (to feel aggrieved).
Related words
Definitions summarised from Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon (E. W. Lane, 1863–1893).