Learn Arabic › A2 › بَحْر
بَحْر
sea /ˈbaħr/
nounA2#846 most common
Also: ocean, large body of water, (in prosody) poetic meter
Example sentences
البَحْرُ كَبيرٌ.
The sea is big.
نُحِبُّ السِّباحَةَ في البَحْرِ.
We like swimming in the sea.
في الصَّيْفِ نَذْهَبُ إلى البَحْرِ كُلَّ يَوْمٍ.
In summer we go to the sea every day.
يَقَعُ البَحْرُ الأَبْيَضُ المُتَوَسِّطُ شَمالَ مِصْرَ.
The Mediterranean Sea lies to the north of Egypt.
كانَتِ السَّفينَةُ تَسيرُ في عُرْضِ البَحْرِ عِنْدَما هَبَّتِ العاصِفَةُ.
The ship was moving in the open sea when the storm blew up.
غاصَ الشّاعِرُ في بِحارِ الخَيالِ حَتّى نَسِيَ نَفْسَهُ.
The poet plunged into seas of imagination until he forgot himself.
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | بَحْرٌ | بِحارٌ |
| Genitive | بَحْرٍ | بِحارٍ |
| Accusative | بَحْراً | بِحاراً |
| Vocative | يا بَحْرُ | يا بِحارُ |
Word family
بَحّارsailor
بَحْريّةnavy
أَبْحَرَto set sail
بُحَيْرةlake
بَحْريّmaritime, naval
Etymology
Baḥr comes from the Semitic triconsonantal root b-ḥ-r, linked to the idea of a wide, deep expanse of water. In Classical Arabic it could name any great body of water, including large rivers such as the Nile. The same root yields words for sailors, navies, and lakes. Its deeper origin within Semitic is debated, so no firm external cognates are listed here.
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