Learn Arabic › B1 › إِبْل
إِبْل
camels (collectively, as a herd or species) /ˈʔibl/
nounB1#2985 most common
Also: camel herd, the camel kind
Example sentences
عِنْدَنَا إِبْلٌ كَثِيرَةٌ.
We have many camels.
تَشْرَبُ الإِبْلُ الماءَ كُلَّ يَوْمٍ.
The camels drink water every day.
رَعَى الرَّجُلُ إِبْلَهُ فِي الصَّحْرَاءِ.
The man grazed his camels in the desert.
تَعِيشُ الإِبْلُ فِي المَناطِقِ الصَّحْراوِيَّةِ لِأَنَّها تَتَحَمَّلُ العَطَشَ.
Camels live in desert regions because they can endure thirst.
كانَتِ الإِبْلُ مَصْدَرَ الثَّرْوَةِ الرَّئِيسِيَّ عِنْدَ العَرَبِ قَديماً.
Camels were the main source of wealth among the ancient Arabs.
وَرَدَ ذِكْرُ الإِبِلِ فِي القُرْآنِ: أَفَلَا يَنْظُرُونَ إِلَى الإِبِلِ كَيْفَ خُلِقَتْ.
Camels are mentioned in the Quran: 'Do they not look at the camels, how they were created?'
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | إِبْلٌ / الإِبْلُ | |
| Genitive | إِبْلٍ / الإِبْلِ | |
| Accusative | إِبْلًا / الإِبْلَ | |
| Vocative | يَا إِبْلُ |
Word family
جَمَلcamel (single male animal)
نَاقَةshe-camel
بَعِيرcamel (single animal, either sex)
رَاعِي الإِبِلcamel herder
Etymology
Ibl is a native Semitic root, built from the three consonants alif-ba-lam, and it names camels as a group rather than one animal. It is a jam' (collective noun): the same root does not yield a singular form, so a single animal instead uses a different word, jamal for a male camel or naqa for a female. Classical Arabic dictionaries also record a rare related verb, abala, meaning to be skilled at herding camels, which points to how central camel husbandry was to the culture that shaped the word.
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