Learn Arabic › A1 › سُوء
سُوء
badness, evil /ˈsuːʔ/
nounA1#630 most common
Also: harm, ill, mis-, poor quality
Example sentences
هٰذا سوءُ حظٍّ.
This is bad luck.
حدث سوءُ فهمٍ بيننا.
A misunderstanding happened between us.
يعاني كثيرٌ من الأطفال من سوءِ التغذية.
Many children suffer from malnutrition.
تعرّض السجناء لسوءِ المعاملة في السجن.
The prisoners were subjected to mistreatment in prison.
أدى سوءُ التفاهم بين الطرفين إلى تأجيل الاتفاق.
The misunderstanding between the two sides led to a postponement of the agreement.
لسوءِ الحظ، فشلت المفاوضات رغم حسن النية الذي أبداه الجميع.
Unfortunately, the talks failed despite the good faith that everyone showed.
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | سُوءٌ | — |
| Genitive | سُوءٍ | — |
| Accusative | سُوءًا | — |
| Vocative | يا سُوءُ | — |
Word family
سَاءَto be bad, to go wrong
أَسَاءَto do wrong, to mistreat
سَيِّئbad
سَيِّئَةmisdeed, sin
أَسْوَأworse, worstEtymology
The word comes from the Semitic triliteral root س-و-ء (s-w-ʼ), tied to the verb سَاءَ, "to be bad" or "to do harm." It is built on the فُعْل noun pattern, giving an abstract sense of badness or ill. In modern usage it most often heads a construct phrase to form "bad-" and "mis-" terms, such as سوء الفهم, a misunderstanding.
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