Arabic vocabulary
الْثَّالِثَthird in Arabic
الْثَّالِثَ is how you say “third” in Arabic. Hear it pronounced and see it used in a real example sentence from classical texts below.
Root ث ل ث (th-l-th)adjective / ordinal number (active-participle pattern from the root's number-verb)Pronounced ath-thālith
Meaning of third in Arabic
- third (ordinal number) — the one that comes third, completing a set of three — built the same way as rābiʿ 'fourth', khāmis 'fifth'
- one that joins two others to make three — reflects the underlying verb's sense of 'becoming third to two' or 'making two, with oneself, three'
Thālith is the ordinal built on the root's number-verb ثَلَثَ, following the same pattern used for other ordinals (classical usage has a horse or rider come ثالث after the leader, then رابع 'fourth', then خامس 'fifth'). With the article it gives 'the third' (aṯ-ṯāliṯ), and it can take a following count to mean 'third of...', echoing the verb's sense of joining two others to make three.
Words from the same root
- ثَلَثَto become the third (of a group); to take a third of property
- ثلّثهُto make threefold, triple something; also to assert the doctrine of the Trinity
- ثُلُثٌa third; one-third share or fraction
- ثَلَاثَةٌthree (the cardinal number)
- ثَلَاثُونَthirty
Common questions
- How do you say "third" in Arabic?
- اَلثَّالِث (ath-thālith).
- What root does "thālith" (third) come from?
- The triliteral root ث ل ث (th-l-th), the same root behind thalāthah 'three', thuluth 'a third', and thalāthūn 'thirty'.
Definitions synthesised from Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon (E. W. Lane, 1863–1893).
Example sentences
حَتَّى إِذَا كَانَ يَوْمَ الْثَّالِثَ،
Until the third day came,
الْثَّالِثَ — third. An ordinal adjective, 'third', matching the day-noun before it in being definite and in case so it reads as part of the same phrase. Arabic ties a describing word to its noun by echoing those features.
From: A Stranger Finds the Prophet →
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