Learn Arabic › B2 › رِيف
رِيف
countryside /riːf/
nounB2#3206 most common
Also: rural area, provinces (as opposed to the city)
Example sentences
أَسْكُنُ فِي الرِّيفِ.
I live in the countryside.
جَدِّي يَعِيشُ فِي رِيفٍ جَمِيلٍ.
My grandfather lives in a beautiful rural area.
نَذْهَبُ إِلَى الرِّيفِ كُلَّ صَيْفٍ لِزِيَارَةِ أَقَارِبِنَا.
We go to the countryside every summer to visit our relatives.
يُهَاجِرُ كَثِيرٌ مِنْ سُكَّانِ الرِّيفِ إِلَى الْمُدُنِ بَحْثًا عَنِ الْعَمَلِ.
Many rural residents migrate to the cities in search of work.
تُعَانِي أَرْيَافُ الْبِلَادِ مِنْ نَقْصٍ فِي الْخَدَمَاتِ الصِّحِّيَّةِ مُقَارَنَةً بِالْمُدُنِ الْكُبْرَى.
The country's rural regions suffer from a shortage of health services compared with the major cities.
أَسْهَمَتِ السِّيَاسَاتُ الزِّرَاعِيَّةُ الْحَدِيثَةُ فِي تَحْسِينِ مُسْتَوَى الْمَعِيشَةِ فِي الرِّيفِ رَغْمَ اسْتِمْرَارِ الْفَجْوَةِ التَّنْمَوِيَّةِ بَيْنَهُ وَبَيْنَ الْحَضَرِ.
Modern agricultural policies have helped raise living standards in rural areas, despite the persisting development gap between them and the cities.
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | رِيفٌ | أَرْيَافٌ |
| Genitive | رِيفٍ | أَرْيَافٍ |
| Accusative | رِيفًا | أَرْيَافًا |
| Vocative | يَا رِيفُ | يَا أَرْيَافُ |
Word family
رِيفِيّrural, of the countryside
أَرْيَافcountryside areas, rural regions (plural)
رِيفِيَّةrural life, rurality
الرِّيفthe Rif, a mountainous region of northern Morocco
Etymology
رِيف comes from the Semitic root ر-ي-ف, tied in Classical Arabic to fertile, cultivated land, the opposite of barren desert. Early lexicographers glossed it as ground with crops and abundance, and the related verb أَرَافَ meant to reach such fertile ground. Over time the sense narrowed to today's meaning, the countryside or rural region set against the city. The word also names the Rif, the mountainous rural region of northern Morocco.
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More Arabic words
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