Learn Arabic › B2 › حُوت
حُوت
whale /ˈħuːt/
nounB2#3346 most common
Also: large fish, sea monster (in older/Quranic usage)
Example sentences
الحُوتُ كَبِيرٌ.
The whale is big.
رَأَيْتُ حُوتًا فِي البَحْرِ.
I saw a whale in the sea.
يَعِيشُ الحُوتُ فِي المُحِيطِ وَيَتَنَفَّسُ الهَوَاءَ.
The whale lives in the ocean and breathes air.
ابْتَلَعَ الحُوتُ يُونُسَ فِي القِصَّةِ المَعْرُوفَةِ.
The whale swallowed Jonah in the well-known story.
تُهَاجِرُ الحِيتَانُ آلَافَ الكِيلُومِتْرَاتِ بَحْثًا عَنِ الغِذَاءِ كُلَّ عَامٍ.
Whales migrate thousands of kilometers in search of food every year.
أَدَّى الصَّيْدُ الجَائِرُ إِلَى تَنَاقُصٍ حَادٍّ فِي أَعْدَادِ بَعْضِ أَنْوَاعِ الحِيتَانِ خِلَالَ القَرْنِ المَاضِي.
Indiscriminate hunting led to a sharp decline in the numbers of some whale species over the past century.
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | حُوتٌ | حِيتَانٌ |
| Genitive | حُوتٍ | حِيتَانٍ |
| Accusative | حُوتًا | حِيتَانًا |
| Vocative | يَا حُوتُ | يَا حِيتَانُ |
Word family
حِيتَانwhales (plural)
الحُوتPisces (the zodiac sign, literally "the fish/whale")
حُوتِيَّاتcetaceans (modern biological term for the order including whales)
صَيْدُ الحِيتَانwhaling, whale hunting
Etymology
حُوت comes from the native Semitic root ح-و-ت, used in Arabic since the earliest recorded texts for large sea creatures, especially whales. The word appears in the Quran in the story of Yunus, who is called "صاحب الحوت", the companion of the whale. No confirmed cognates in other language families are known, so no deeper root is given here.
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