Arabic vocabulary
سَيْفٌsword in Arabic
سَيْفٌ is how you say “sword” in Arabic. Hear it pronounced and see it used in real example sentences from classical texts below.
Root س ي ف (s-y-f)noun (masculine)Pronounced sayf
Meaning of sword in Arabic
- sword — the well-known bladed weapon used for striking; said to have well over a thousand poetic epithets
- a sharp, cutting tongue — figurative use, as in the phrase 'between his two jaws is a sword'
- a horse's tail-hair — a further figurative extension noted in the lexicon
Sayf is the standard, everyday word for 'sword' in both classical and modern Arabic, and it carries the same figurative weight as English 'sword' — as in a cutting tongue being called a sword between the jaws. The same root also gives sīf, an apparently unrelated word for 'seashore', which Lane lists under the same root.
Words from the same root
- سَيَّافٌswordsman; executioner
- سِيفٌseashore, coast
- سَيْفَانٌtall and slender, like a sword
- مُسَايَفَةٌsword fight, duel
- سَائِفٌone armed with a sword
Common questions
- How do you say "sword" in Arabic?
- سَيْف (sayf).
- What is the root of سيف and what else comes from it?
- The triliteral root س ي ف carries the sense of striking with a sword. From it come سَيَّاف (sayyāf, swordsman/executioner), سِيف (sīf, seashore), and مُسَايَفَة (musāyafah, a sword duel).
Definitions synthesised from Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon (E. W. Lane, 1863–1893).
Example sentences
إذ نظر عمر إلى عمير حين أناخ على باب المسجد متوشحا بالسيف
Umar saw Umair when he arrived at the mosque's door, girded with a sword.
بِالسَّيْفِ — with a sword. bi- = 'with'; al- = 'the'; sayf means 'sword' — 'with the sword'.
From: Early Converts to Islam →فأقبل عمر حتى أخذ بحمالة سيفه في عنقه، فلببه به،
Umar approached and took hold of the strap of his sword around his neck, then grabbed him firmly with it.
سَيْفِهِ — his sword. sayf means 'sword'; the ending '-hi' adds 'his' — 'his sword'.
From: Early Converts to Islam →قال فما بال السيف
Related words
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