Learn Arabic › B1 › رُبْع
رُبْع
quarter (one-fourth) /ˈrubʕ/
nounB1#2427 most common
Also: fourth part, district (of a town)
Example sentences
هذا رُبْع تفاحة.
This is a quarter of an apple.
الساعة الآن الثانية والرُّبْع.
It is now a quarter past two.
أعطني رُبْع كيلو من التفاح من فضلك.
Give me a quarter kilo of apples, please.
يسكن رُبْع سكان المدينة في هذا الحي.
A quarter of the city's residents live in this district.
يقع الرُّبْع الخالي في الجزء الجنوبي من شبه الجزيرة العربية.
The Empty Quarter lies in the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula.
انخفضت الأرباح بمقدار الرُّبْع خلال الرُّبْع الأخير من العام المالي.
Profits fell by a quarter during the last quarter of the fiscal year.
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | رُبْعٌ | أَرْبَاعٌ |
| Genitive | رُبْعٍ | أَرْبَاعٍ |
| Accusative | رُبْعًا | أَرْبَاعًا |
| Vocative | يَا رُبْعُ | يَا أَرْبَاعُ |
Word family
أربعةfour
مربعsquare, squared
ربيعspring (season)
الأربعاءWednesday
تربيعsquaring, quartering
Etymology
رُبْع comes from the Semitic root ر-ب-ع, tied to the concept of four. The same root gives أربعة (four), ربيع (spring, once counted as a fourth season), and الأربعاء (Wednesday, the fourth day). The fuʿl pattern here marks a fraction, so rubʿ literally denotes one part out of four.
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