Learn Arabic › A2 › أَيِّم
أَيِّم
woman without a husband /ˈʔaj.jim/
nounA2#1400 most common
Also: widow, unmarried woman, spouseless person
Example sentences
هِيَ أَيِّمٌ.
She has no husband.
بَقِيَتْ أُخْتِي أَيِّمًا بَعْدَ الطَّلَاقِ.
My sister stayed without a husband after the divorce.
تَزَوَّجَتِ الأَيِّمُ جَارَنَا الطَّيِّبَ.
The single woman married our kind neighbor.
قَرَّرَتِ الأَيِّمُ أَنْ تُرَبِّيَ أَوْلَادَهَا وَحْدَهَا دُونَ أَنْ تَتَزَوَّجَ ثَانِيَةً.
The spouseless woman decided to raise her children alone without marrying again.
أَمَرَ الإِسْلَامُ المُجْتَمَعَ بِأَنْ يُزَوِّجَ الأَيَامَى وَيَرْعَى الفُقَرَاءَ.
Islam ordered society to marry off the spouseless and care for the poor.
نَصَّ الفُقَهَاءُ عَلَى أَنَّ الأَيِّمَ أَحَقُّ بِنَفْسِهَا مِنْ وَلِيِّهَا فِي عَقْدِ النِّكَاحِ.
The jurists held that a previously married woman has more right over herself than her guardian in the marriage contract.
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | أَيِّمٌ | أَيَامَى |
| Genitive | أَيِّمٍ | أَيَامَى |
| Accusative | أَيِّمًا | أَيَامَى |
| Vocative | يَا أَيِّمُ | يَا أَيَامَى |
Word family
أَيَامَىspouseless or single people (plural of أَيِّم)
آمَto lose one's spouse, to become spouseless
تَأَيَّمَto remain unmarried or to be widowed
أَيْمَةspinsterhood or widowhood, the state of having no spouse
Etymology
The word comes from the triliteral root ʾ-y-m, tied to the verb آمَ, to lose one's spouse. أَيِّم follows the فَيْعِل pattern, like سَيِّد and مَيِّت, where the middle radical doubles. It names a person left without a spouse, most often a woman without a husband. Arabic is Semitic, so no Indo-European root applies.
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