Learn Arabic › B2 › أَنانِيّ
أَنانِيّ
selfish /ʔa.naːˈniː/
adjectiveB2#3430 most common
Also: egotistical, self-centered, egoistic
Example sentences
هُوَ أَنانِيٌّ.
He is selfish.
صَدِيقِي أَنانِيٌّ جِدًّا وَلا يُشارِكُ أَحَدًا.
My friend is very selfish and doesn't share with anyone.
لا أُحِبُّ الأَشْخاصَ الأَنانِيِّينَ.
I don't like selfish people.
كانَتْ تَصَرُّفاتُها الأَنانِيَّةُ سَبَبًا فِي خِلافِنا.
Her selfish behavior was the reason for our disagreement.
عَلى الرَّغْمِ مِنْ ثَرائِهِ، يَبْقى رَجُلًا أَنانِيًّا لا يَتَبَرَّعُ بِشَيْءٍ لِلْفُقَراءِ.
Despite his wealth, he remains a selfish man who donates nothing to the poor.
يَرى بَعْضُ عُلَماءِ النَّفْسِ أَنَّ السُّلُوكَ الأَنانِيَّ قَدْ يَكُونُ آلِيَّةَ دِفاعٍ نَفْسِيَّةً أَكْثَرَ مِنْهُ صِفَةً فِطْرِيَّةً.
Some psychologists believe that selfish behavior may be more a psychological defense mechanism than an innate trait.
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | أَنانِيٌّ | أَنانِيُّونَ |
| Genitive | أَنانِيٍّ | أَنانِيِّينَ |
| Accusative | أَنانِيًّا | أَنانِيِّينَ |
| Vocative | يا أَنانِيُّ | يا أَنانِيُّونَ |
Word family
Etymology
أناني is built from the first-person pronoun أنا, meaning 'I', plus the nisba suffix ـِيّ, which turns a noun into a relational adjective, much as بلد 'country' becomes بلدي 'local'. Attached to 'I', the suffix yields an adjective for someone centered on their own 'I'. The word belongs to the wave of coinages from the 19th and 20th century Arabic revival, when writers needed native terms for concepts like 'egoist' and 'egotistical'.
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