Learn ArabicB1 › ثانِيَة

ثانِيَة

second /ˈθaː.ni.ja/

nounB1#1682 most common

Also: a moment, an instant

Example sentences

اِنْتَظِرْ ثانِيَة.
Wait a second.
أَعْطِني ثانِيَة واحِدَة.
Give me one second.
السّاعَة فيها سِتُّونَ ثانِيَة في كُلِّ دَقيقَة.
There are sixty seconds in each minute.
وَصَلْتُ في آخِرِ ثانِيَة قَبْلَ إِغْلاقِ البابِ.
I arrived in the last second before the door closed.
سَجَّلَ الفَريقُ هَدَفًا في الثّانِيَةِ الأَخيرَةِ مِنَ المُباراةِ.
The team scored a goal in the last second of the match.
لَمْ يَسْتَغْرِقْ قَرارُهُ سِوى أَجْزاءٍ مِنَ الثّانِيَةِ، فَتَغَيَّرَ مَصيرُهُ كُلُّهُ.
His decision took only fractions of a second, and his whole fate changed.

Declension

CaseSingularPlural
Nominativeثانِيَةٌثَوانٍ
Genitiveثانِيَةٍثَوانٍ
Accusativeثانِيَةًثَوانِيَ
Vocativeيا ثانِيَةُيا ثَوانِي

Word family

ثانٍsecond (ordinal)
اِثْنانِtwo
دَقيقَةminute
اِثْنَيْنِMonday
ثَنَىto fold, to bend

Etymology

The word derives from the triliteral Arabic root th-n-y, which carries the sense of doubling, folding, or repeating. The same root gives the ordinal 'second' (the one that follows the first). The time unit is the 'second' division of the hour, after the first division (the minute), a usage that mirrors the Latin 'secunda'.

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