Learn ArabicA1 › أَفْضَل

أَفْضَل

better /ˈʔafdˤal/

adjectiveA1#110 most common

Also: best, superior, preferable

Example sentences

هَذا الكِتاب أَفْضَل.
This book is better.
القَهْوَة أَفْضَل مِن الشّاي.
Coffee is better than tea.
هُوَ أَفْضَل طالِب في الصَّفّ.
He is the best student in the class.
أَعْتَقِد أَنَّ هَذا الحَلّ أَفْضَل مِن الحَلّ السّابِق.
I think this solution is better than the previous one.
مِن الأَفْضَل أَن تَصِل مُبَكِّراً إلى المَطار.
It is better to arrive early at the airport.
تُعَدّ هَذِهِ الجامِعَة مِن أَفْضَل الجامِعات في العالَم العَرَبِيّ.
This university is counted among the best universities in the Arab world.

Declension

CaseSingularPlural
Nominativeأَفْضَلُأَفاضِلُ
Genitiveأَفْضَلَأَفاضِلَ
Accusativeأَفْضَلَأَفاضِلَ
Vocativeيا أَفْضَلُيا أَفاضِلُ

Word family

فَضْلmerit, favor, surplus
فاضِلvirtuous, excellent
فَضيلةvirtue
تَفْضيلpreference
فَضَّلَto prefer

Etymology

أَفْضَل is the elative form of the adjective فاضِل, meaning excellent or virtuous. It is built on the Arabic root ف ض ل, whose verb فَضَلَ means to exceed, to surpass, or to be in excess. The pattern أَفْعَل turns the quality into a comparative or superlative, so the word names the thing that surpasses the rest. Arabic is a Semitic language, so it has no Proto-Indo-European ancestry.

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