Arabic vocabulary
أَضَاعَwaste in Arabic
أَضَاعَ is how you say “waste” in Arabic. Hear it pronounced and see it used in real example sentences from classical texts below.
Root ض ي ع (ḍ-y-ʿ)verb (form IV)Pronounced aḍāʿa
Meaning of waste in Arabic
- to waste, lose, or destroy (something) — given by Lane as synonymous with the form II verb ضيّع — causing a thing to perish or come to nought
- to neglect, abandon, or fail to take care of (a duty, one's family, or prayer) — used in the Qur'an of neglecting the prayer (19:60) and of God not neglecting one's faith (2:143 per Lane's citation)
- (intransitive) to find one's affair going to ruin — a secondary, less common sense noted by Lane
Aḍāʿa is the causative form IV verb built on the same root as ḍāʿa ("to be lost"); Lane treats it as interchangeable with ḍayyaʿa when it means to waste or destroy something, and it is also the verb used, notably in the Qur'an, for neglecting a duty such as prayer.
Words from the same root
- ضَاعَto perish, be lost, come to nought (form I)
- ضيّعto waste, destroy, or lose something (form II)
- تضيّعof musk, to diffuse its fragrance; of wind, to blow (form V)
- ضَيَاعٌloss, perishing, ruin (verbal noun)
- ضَيْعَةٌan estate or landed property; also a craft or means of livelihood
Common questions
- How do you say "waste" in Arabic?
- أضاع (aḍāʿa) — the form IV verb meaning to waste, lose, or cause something to perish.
- What else can أضاع mean besides "waste"?
- It also means to neglect or fail to look after something, as in the Qur'anic phrase أضاعوا الصلاة, "they neglected the prayer."
Definitions synthesised from Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon (E. W. Lane, 1863–1893).
Example sentences
والابتلاء بقرناء السوء الَّذين يفسدون الْقلب ويضيعون الْوَقْت
And the trial of bad companions who corrupt the heart and waste time.
وَيُضَيِّعُونَ — and they waste. wa- = 'and'; present-tense verb 'waste' with the built-in subject 'they' ('-una').
From: Returning to God →أرى فقهاء هذا العصر طُرًّا أضاعوا العلم واشتغلوا بلِمْ لِمْ
I see all the jurists of this era have neglected knowledge and are busy with 'why, why.'
أَضَاعُوا — they neglected. Past 'they wasted, lost', the -u marking 'they' — the second half of 'I see them [having] wasted...'; form-IV.
From: Avoiding Scholarly Disputation →
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