Learn ArabicA2 › زَمَن

زَمَن

time /ˈza.man/

nounA2#808 most common

Also: period of time, era, epoch

Example sentences

مَرَّ زَمَنٌ طَوِيلٌ.
A long time has passed.
فِي ذٰلِكَ الزَّمَنِ كانَتِ الحَياةُ بَسِيطَةً.
In that time life was simple.
لَمْ أَرَهُ مُنْذُ زَمَنٍ بَعِيدٍ.
I have not seen him for a long time.
تَغَيَّرَتِ العاداتُ كَثِيرًا عَبْرَ الزَّمَنِ.
Customs have changed a great deal over time.
يَقِيسُ الفيزْيائِيُّونَ الزَّمَنَ بِدِقَّةٍ مُتَناهِيَةٍ.
Physicists measure time with extreme precision.
لا يَعْرِفُ قِيمَةَ الزَّمَنِ إِلّا مَنْ أَضاعَ شَطْرًا مِنْ عُمْرِهِ سُدًى.
Only the person who has wasted part of his life in vain knows the value of time.

Declension

CaseSingularPlural
Nominativeزَمَنٌأَزْمانٌ
Genitiveزَمَنٍأَزْمانٍ
Accusativeزَمَنًاأَزْمانًا
Vocativeيا زَمَنُيا أَزْمانُ

Word family

زَمانtime, eraزَمَنِيّtemporal, chronological
مُزْمِنchronic
مُتَزامِنsimultaneous, synchronous
أَزْمِنَةeras; grammatical tenses

Etymology

زَمَن comes from the Semitic root z-m-n, which carries the sense of time and duration. The same root appears in Hebrew and Aramaic words for an appointed time or season. Some scholars trace the wider family to an early Iranian source, but the Semitic forms are old and well attested. In Arabic the word covers ordinary time and, in grammar, verb tense.

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