Learn Arabic › B2 › دَفَن
دَفَن
to bury /ˈdafana/
verbB2#3574 most common
Also: to inter, to hide (something) in the ground
Example sentences
دَفَنَ الكَلْبُ العَظْمَ.
The dog buried the bone.
دَفَنُوا الكَنْزَ فِي الرَّمْلِ.
They buried the treasure in the sand.
دَفَنَتِ العَائِلَةُ جَدَّهَا فِي المَقْبَرَةِ.
The family buried their grandfather in the cemetery.
أَدْفِنُ ذِكْرَيَاتِي المُؤْلِمَةَ فِي أَعْمَاقِ قَلْبِي.
I bury my painful memories deep in my heart.
بَعْدَ الزِّلْزَالِ، اضْطُرَّ السُّكَّانُ أَنْ يَدْفِنُوا مَوْتَاهُمْ بِسُرْعَةٍ.
After the earthquake, the residents were forced to bury their dead quickly.
يُقَالُ إِنَّ القَرَاصِنَةَ كَانُوا يَدْفِنُونَ كُنُوزَهُمْ فِي جُزُرٍ نَائِيَةٍ لِيَحْمُوهَا مِنَ السَّرِقَةِ.
It is said that pirates used to bury their treasures on remote islands to protect them from theft.
Conjugation
| Present Active | Simple Past Active | Simple Future Active | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1sg | أَدْفِنُ | دَفَنْتُ | سَأَدْفِنُ |
| 2sg | تَدْفِنُ | دَفَنْتَ | سَتَدْفِنُ |
| 3sg | يَدْفِنُ | دَفَنَ | سَيَدْفِنُ |
| 1pl | نَدْفِنُ | دَفَنَّا | سَنَدْفِنُ |
| 2pl | تَدْفِنُونَ | دَفَنْتُمْ | سَتَدْفِنُونَ |
| 3pl | يَدْفِنُونَ | دَفَنُوا | سَيَدْفِنُونَ |
Word family
دَفْنburial, interment
مَدْفَنburial place, tomb
دَفِينburied, hidden (e.g. treasure)
مَدْفُونburied (passive participle)Etymology
دَفَن comes from the triliteral Semitic root د ف ن (d-f-n), whose core sense is to cover something over with earth. The Form I verb دَفَنَ follows the plain فَعَلَ pattern used for many basic transitive actions in Arabic. The same root produces nouns for burial and burial places, showing how Arabic builds a family of related meanings from one set of consonants. Arabic belongs to the Afro-Asiatic family, not Indo-European, so it has no Proto-Indo-European ancestor.
Learn Arabic the way that sticks.
Every word here is a full Polylex card with native audio and spaced repetition, so 4,080 words actually move into long-term memory.
Start free
Every word here is a full Polylex card with native audio and spaced repetition, so 4,080 words actually move into long-term memory.
Start free