Learn Arabic › A2 › زَعِيم
زَعِيم
leader /zaˈʕiːm/
nounA2#1342 most common
Also: chief, boss, strongman, guarantor, surety (classical/legal)
Example sentences
الزَّعِيمُ رَجُلٌ مَشْهُورٌ.
The leader is a famous man.
يُحِبُّ النَّاسُ زَعِيمَهُمْ.
The people love their leader.
اِجْتَمَعَ الزَّعِيمُ مَعَ الوُزَرَاءِ أَمْسِ.
The leader met with the ministers yesterday.
أَلْقَى زَعِيمُ الحِزْبِ خِطَابًا حَمَاسِيًّا أَمَامَ أَنْصَارِهِ.
The party leader gave a rousing speech in front of his supporters.
تَزَعَّمَ المُعَارَضَةَ زَعِيمٌ شَابٌّ اِسْتَطَاعَ أَنْ يُوَحِّدَ صُفُوفَهَا.
A young leader who managed to unite its ranks took charge of the opposition.
لَمْ يَكُنْ زَعِيمُ الثَّوْرَةِ مُجَرَّدَ خَطِيبٍ بَارِعٍ، بَلْ كَانَ اِسْتْرَاتِيجِيًّا يُدْرِكُ مَوَازِينَ القُوَى الإِقْلِيمِيَّةِ.
The leader of the revolution was no mere skilled orator. He was a strategist who grasped the regional balance of power.
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | زَعِيمٌ | زُعَمَاءُ |
| Genitive | زَعِيمٍ | زُعَمَاءَ |
| Accusative | زَعِيمًا | زُعَمَاءَ |
| Vocative | يَا زَعِيمُ | يَا زُعَمَاءُ |
Word family
زَعِيمَةfemale leader
زُعَمَاءleaders (plural)
زَعَامَةleadership
زَعَمَto claim, allege
مَزْعُومalleged
Etymology
Zaʿīm comes from the Semitic root z-ʿ-m, whose core sense is to speak for a group or make a claim. The related verb zaʿama means to allege or assert, and the noun zaʿāma means leadership. A zaʿīm is literally the one who claims to speak for a body of people, a sense that hardened into chief or leader. The same root also gave a legal sense of guarantor, one who stands surety for another.
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