Learn ArabicB2 › جاز

جاز

to be permissible, to be allowed /ˈdʒaː.za/

verbB2#3544 most common

Also: to pass, go past, to cross, go through, to be valid, correct

Example sentences

هل يجوز هذا؟
Is this allowed?
لا يجوز الدخول من هنا.
Entering from here is not allowed.
جاز له أن يترك العمل مبكراً.
He was permitted to leave work early.
يجوز للمسافر أن يقصر الصلاة.
The traveler is permitted to shorten the prayer.
جازت شهادتها أمام القاضي.
Her testimony was accepted as valid before the judge.
لا يجوز التحايل على القانون بذرائع واهية.
Circumventing the law with flimsy pretexts is not permissible.

Conjugation

Present ActiveSimple Past ActiveSimple Future Active
1sgأجوزجزتسأجوز
2sgتجوزجزتستجوز
3sgيجوزجازسيجوز
1plنجوزجزناسنجوز
2plتجوزونجزتمستجوزون
3plيجوزونجازواسيجوزون

Word family

جوازpassport; permissibility
إجازةvacation; license
مجازmetaphor; passage
أجازto permit, to authorize
جائزpermissible, allowable

Etymology

جاز comes from the Arabic root ج-و-ز (j-w-z), a Semitic triliteral root built around the idea of passing through or by something. The same root gives جوز, meaning the waist or middle, the part of the body a belt passes around. Because something judged sound is said to pass a test, the verb picked up a second sense, to be permissible or valid, alongside its older, literal sense of crossing or going past. Both senses stay active side by side in Modern Standard Arabic today.

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