Arabic vocabulary
How to say “word” in Arabic, with pronunciation and real example sentences from OpenArabic texts.
وَهَذَا هُوَ الَّذِي يُسمى فِي اللُّغَة كلمة كَقَوْلِه
And this is what is called in language (a word) as his saying:
كَلِمَةٌ — a word. 'a word', nominative indefinite — what the thing is called. This is the very point: what grammarians label a 'kalima' is in fact a complete utterance.
From: The Declaration of Faith →كلمتان خفيفتان على اللِّسَان ثقيلتان فِي الْمِيزَان حبيبتان إِلَى الرَّحْمَن سُبْحَانَ الله وَبِحَمْدِهِ سُبْحَانَ الله الْعَظِيم
"Two words light on the tongue, heavy on the scale, beloved to the Most Merciful: Glory be to Allah and with His praise, Glory be to Allah the Great."
كَلِمَتَانِ — two words. The DUAL — 'two words', subject, nominative. The -ani ending folds 'exactly two' into the noun where English needs the separate 'two'. And here each 'word' is itself a whole phrase — the very point being made.
From: The Declaration of Faith →وَقَوله أفضل كلمة قَالَهَا الشَّاعِر كلمة لبيد أَلا كل شَيْء مَا خلا الله بَاطِل
And his saying: "The best word said by a poet is the word of Labid: Behold, everything other than Allah is futile."
كَلِمَةٍ — word. Genitive owner of 'best' — 'a word'. After a superlative the thing ranked goes genitive singular: 'the best [of] word'.
From: The Declaration of Faith →وَقَوله أفضل كلمة قَالَهَا الشَّاعِر كلمة لبيد أَلا كل شَيْء مَا خلا الله بَاطِل
And his saying: "The best word said by a poet is the word of Labid: Behold, everything other than Allah is futile."
كَلِمَةُ — the word. 'the word of', nominative as a restatement (apposition) naming WHICH word is best, and head of an 'of' pairing with 'Labid' — 'the word OF Labid'.
From: The Declaration of Faith →وَمِنْه قَوْله تَعَالَى ٥ الْكَهْف ﴿كَبرت كلمة تخرج من أَفْوَاههم﴾ الْآيَة
And from it His, the Exalted, saying: 'Grievous is the word that comes out of their mouths.'
كَلِمَةً — the word. 'as a word', accusative — and this is the famous point: after the verb the noun stands in the accusative of specification, answering 'great in WHAT respect?' — 'it loomed great AS an utterance'. Arabic uses this bare accusative where English needs 'as' or 'in respect of'.
From: The Declaration of Faith →وَقَوله ١١٥ الْأَنْعَام ﴿وتمت كلمة رَبك صدقا وعدلا﴾
And His saying: 'And the word of your Lord has been fulfilled in truth and justice.'
كَلِمَةُ — the word. 'the word of', the doer of 'was fulfilled', nominative, and head of an 'of' pairing with 'your Lord' — 'the word OF your Lord'.
From: The Declaration of Faith →وَهَذَا هُوَ الَّذِي يُسمى فِي اللُّغَة كلمة كَقَوْلِه
And this is what is called in the language a 'word', as in his saying:
كَلِمَةً — a 'word'. 'a word', accusative — the naming-complement left after 'is called': 'is called a kalima'. This is the point: what they call a 'word' is in fact a whole utterance.
From: Small Deeds, Great Reward →كلمتان خفيفتان على اللِّسَان ثقيلتان فِي الْمِيزَان حبيبتان إِلَى الرَّحْمَن سُبْحَانَ الله وَبِحَمْدِهِ سُبْحَانَ الله الْعَظِيم
"Two phrases that are light on the tongue, heavy on the balance, and beloved to the Most Merciful: 'Glory be to Allah and His is the praise, Glory be to Allah, the Most Great.'"
كَلِمَتَانِ — two phrases. The DUAL — 'two words', subject, nominative. The -ani ending folds 'exactly two' into the noun; and here each 'word' is itself a whole phrase, the point being made.
From: Small Deeds, Great Reward →أفضل كلمة قَالَهَا الشَّاعِر كلمة لبيد أَلا كل شَيْء مَا خلا الله بَاطِل
"The best phrase the poet Labid said: 'Indeed, everything besides Allah is false.'"
كَلِمَةٍ — phrase. Genitive owner of 'best' — 'a word'. After a superlative the thing ranked goes genitive singular: 'the best [of] word'.
From: Small Deeds, Great Reward →أفضل كلمة قَالَهَا الشَّاعِر كلمة لبيد أَلا كل شَيْء مَا خلا الله بَاطِل
"The best phrase the poet Labid said: 'Indeed, everything besides Allah is false.'"
كَلِمَةُ — phrase. 'the word of', nominative as a restatement (apposition) naming WHICH word is best, head of an 'of' pairing with 'Labid'.
From: Small Deeds, Great Reward →وَمِنْه قَوْله تَعَالَى ٥ الْكَهْف ﴿كَبرت كلمة تخرج من أَفْوَاههم﴾ الْآيَة
And among them is His saying the Exalted: 'Grave is the word that comes out of their mouths.'
كَلِمَةً — word. 'as a word', accusative — the famous point: after the verb the noun stands in the accusative of specification, answering 'great in WHAT respect?' — 'it loomed great AS an utterance'.
From: Small Deeds, Great Reward →وَقَوله ١١٥ الْأَنْعَام ﴿وتمت كلمة رَبك صدقا وعدلا﴾
And His saying: 'And the word of your Lord has been fulfilled in truth and justice.'
كَلِمَةُ — word. 'the word of', the doer of 'was fulfilled', nominative, head of an 'of' pairing with 'your Lord' — 'the word OF your Lord'.
From: Small Deeds, Great Reward →وأمثال ذَلِك مِمَّا اسْتعْمل فِيهِ لفظ الْكَلِمَة من الْكتاب وَالسّنة بل وَسَائِر كَلَام الْعَرَب فَإِنَّمَا يُرَاد بِهِ الْجُمْلَة التَّامَّة
And similar uses of the term 'word' in the Book and the Sunnah, as well as in the rest of Arabic speech, refer to a complete sentence.
الْكَلِمَةِ — 'word'. Genitive owner of 'term' — 'the word'. al- makes it the specific term under study: the expression 'kalima'.
From: Small Deeds, Great Reward →تُوضَع بطاقةٌ فيها كلمة التوحيد في كفّة، وتُقابِلها سجلاّتٌ من الذنوب في الكفّة الأخرى، فتغلب البطاقةُ بما فيها من حقٍّ خالص
A card with the word of monotheism is placed on one side, and records of sins on the other side; the card outweighs them with its pure truth.
كَلِمَةُ — word. 'the word of', nominative subject of the verbless 'in it [is] the word of...', head of an 'of' pairing with 'monotheism'.
From: Small Deeds, Great Reward →كلمةُ ذكرٍ خفيّة، وردُّ أمانةٍ، وكفُّ أذًى عن طريق الناس كلّها تزداد ثِقَلًا بقدر الصدق فيها
A hidden word of remembrance, returning a trust, and withholding harm from people's paths—all increase in weight according to the sincerity within them.
كَلِمَةُ — A word. 'a word of', nominative as the fronted subject (first of a list), head of an 'of' pairing with 'remembrance'.
From: When Hidden Deeds Are Shown →امْلأ يومك بحقائق صغيرةٍ متينة نِيّةٍ مصحَّحة، صلاةٍ على وقتها، كلمةِ عدل، عفوٍ عند القدرة
Fill your day with small, sturdy truths—a corrected intention, a prayer on time, a word of justice, forgiveness when able—
كَلِمَةِ — a word. 'a word of', genitive — the third example, head of an 'of' pairing with 'justice'.
From: When Hidden Deeds Are Shown →وكم من رجل غضب على ولده أو صديقه، فقال كلمة قاسية فرقت بينهما، أو فعل فعلة شنعاء أورثت عداوة
How many a man has gotten angry at his child or friend, uttered a harsh word that separated them, or committed a terrible deed that led to enmity.
كَلِمَةً — a word. The object of 'said', a noun 'word', in the object form with a bare indefinite ending: a word. It is the harsh thing he uttered.
From: Restraining Anger →OpenArabic teaches words like كَلِمَة through real bilingual reading with native audio and spaced-repetition practice.
Get the app