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أَبَوان

parents /ʔabaˈwaːn/

nounB2#3462 most common

Also: two fathers, father and mother

Example sentences

هَذَانِ أَبَوَايَ.
These two are my parents.
أَبَوَايَ يَعْمَلَانِ فِي المُسْتَشْفَى.
My parents work at the hospital.
يَجِبُ عَلَى الأَبْنَاءِ احْتِرَامُ أَبَوَيْهِمْ.
Children must respect their parents.
عَاشَ الطِّفْلُ مَعَ أَبَوَيْهِ حَتَّى بَلَغَ العِشْرِينَ مِنْ عُمْرِهِ.
The child lived with his parents until he turned twenty.
رَفَعَ يُوسُفُ أَبَوَيْهِ عَلَى العَرْشِ تَكْرِيمًا لَهُمَا.
Joseph raised his parents onto the throne, honoring them.
تَنُصُّ الآيَةُ الكَرِيمَةُ عَلَى وُجُوبِ الإِحْسَانِ إِلَى الأَبَوَيْنِ مَهْمَا بَلَغَ الإِنْسَانُ مِنَ العِلْمِ وَالمَكَانَةِ.
The noble verse states the duty of kindness to one's parents, no matter how much knowledge and status a person attains.

Declension

CaseSingularPlural
Nominativeأَبأَبَوَانِ
Genitiveأَبأَبَوَيْنِ
Accusativeأَبأَبَوَيْنِ
Vocativeيَا أَبيَا أَبَوَانِ

Word family

أَبfather
آبَاءfathers, ancestors (sound plural)
أُبُوَّةfatherhood, paternity
أَبَوِيّpaternal, parental

Etymology

Arabic is a Semitic language, not Indo-European, so it has no PIE root. The word أَبَوان is the dual form of أَب, meaning father, built by adding the dual ending to a root whose weak third consonant, و, resurfaces outside the bare singular. Arabic speakers use this dual, which literally reads two fathers, as the standard word for parents, treating father and mother as one paired unit.

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