Learn Arabic › B2 › جَهِل
جَهِل
to not know; to be ignorant of /ˈdʒa.hi.la/
verbB2#3134 most common
Also: to be unaware of, to act foolishly (out of ignorance)
Example sentences
أَجْهَلُ اسْمَهُ.
I don't know his name.
جَهِلَ الرَّجُلُ الطَّريقَ إلى المَدينَةِ.
The man did not know the way to the city.
جَهِلْتُ أَهَمِّيَّةَ الدِّراسَةِ في صِغَري.
I was unaware of the importance of studying when I was young.
لا يَنْبَغي أَنْ تَجْهَلَ حُقوقَكَ القانونِيَّةَ.
You should not be ignorant of your legal rights.
جَهِلَ كَثيرٌ مِنَ النّاسِ عَواقِبَ تَغَيُّرِ المُناخِ لِسَنَواتٍ طَويلَةٍ.
Many people were unaware of the consequences of climate change for many years.
مَنْ جَهِلَ قَدْرَ نَفْسِهِ لَمْ يَحْتَرِمْهُ غَيْرُهُ، وَمَنْ جَهِلَ التّاريخَ أَعادَهُ.
Whoever is ignorant of his own worth will not be respected by others, and whoever is ignorant of history repeats it.
Conjugation
| Present Active | Simple Past Active | Simple Future Active | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1sg | أَجْهَلُ | جَهِلْتُ | سَأَجْهَلُ |
| 2sg | تَجْهَلُ | جَهِلْتَ | سَتَجْهَلُ |
| 3sg | يَجْهَلُ | جَهِلَ | سَيَجْهَلُ |
| 1pl | نَجْهَلُ | جَهِلْنا | سَنَجْهَلُ |
| 2pl | تَجْهَلونَ | جَهِلْتُم | سَتَجْهَلونَ |
| 3pl | يَجْهَلونَ | جَهِلوا | سَيَجْهَلونَ |
Word family
جَهْلignorance
جاهِلan ignorant person
جاهِليّةthe pre-Islamic age of ignorance
مَجْهُولunknownتَجاهَلto ignore, to feign not knowingEtymology
جَهِل comes from the triliteral Semitic root ج-ه-ل (j-h-l), which carries the core sense of not knowing or lacking awareness. The root is native to Arabic and shows up across the language in words for ignorance, the unknown, and willful disregard. It gained extra weight in Islamic history through the term jāhiliyya, used for the pre-Islamic era, framed as a time of ignorance before revealed knowledge. There is no confirmed link to an Indo-European root, since Arabic and its Semitic relatives developed this vocabulary independently.
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