Learn Arabic › B2 › تَعَثَّر
تَعَثَّر
to stumble (falter) /taˈʕaθːara/
verbB2#3374 most common
Also: to falter, to be hindered, to trip
Example sentences
تَعَثَّرَ الوَلَدُ وَوَقَعَ.
The boy stumbled and fell.
تَعَثَّرْتُ عَلَى الدَّرَجِ فِي الظَّلامِ.
I stumbled on the stairs in the dark.
تَتَعَثَّرُ الشَّرِكَةُ مالِيًّا هذِهِ الأَيَّامِ.
The company is faltering financially these days.
تَعَثَّرَتِ المُفاوَضاتُ بَيْنَ الطَّرَفَيْنِ مُنْذُ أَسابيعَ.
Negotiations between the two sides have stalled for weeks.
يَتَعَثَّرُ الاقْتِصادُ بِسَبَبِ العُقوباتِ المُتَكَرِّرَةِ.
The economy is faltering because of repeated sanctions.
تَعَثَّرَتْ عَجَلَةُ الإِصْلاحاتِ وَسْطَ تَجاذُباتٍ سِياسِيَّةٍ مُعَقَّدَةٍ.
The wheel of reforms stumbled amid complicated political tug-of-war.
Conjugation
| Present Active | Simple Past Active | Simple Future Active | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1sg | أَتَعَثَّرُ | تَعَثَّرْتُ | سَأَتَعَثَّرُ |
| 2sg | تَتَعَثَّرُ | تَعَثَّرْتَ | سَتَتَعَثَّرُ |
| 3sg | يَتَعَثَّرُ | تَعَثَّرَ | سَيَتَعَثَّرُ |
| 1pl | نَتَعَثَّرُ | تَعَثَّرْنا | سَنَتَعَثَّرُ |
| 2pl | تَتَعَثَّرونَ | تَعَثَّرْتُمْ | سَتَتَعَثَّرونَ |
| 3pl | يَتَعَثَّرونَ | تَعَثَّروا | سَيَتَعَثَّرونَ |
Word family
عَثَرَto stumble; to happen upon
عَثْرَةa stumble, slip, or setback
تَعَثُّرfaltering, stalling (verbal noun of this verb)
مُتَعَثِّرfaltering, floundering, in difficulty
عاثِرstumbling; ill-fated
Etymology
The word comes from the Semitic root ʿ-th-r, which carries the core sense of tripping or stumbling. The base verb عَثَرَ (ʿathara) means simply to stumble or to chance upon something. تَعَثَّرَ places this root in Form V, a pattern that adds a reflexive or repeated quality, so the meaning shifts toward stumbling again and again, or being repeatedly held back. Arabic is a Semitic language, not an Indo-European one, so it has no Proto-Indo-European root.
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