Learn ArabicB2 › شَبِيه

شَبِيه

similar, resembling /ʃaˈbiːh/

adjectiveB2#4239 most common

Also: look-alike, counterpart, double

Example sentences

هو شَبِيه بأخيه.
He resembles his brother.
هذا البيت شَبِيه بمنزلنا.
This house is similar to our house.
وجدتُ كتابًا شَبِيهًا بهذا الكتاب.
I found a book similar to this one.
الوضعُ شَبِيهٌ بما حدث العام الماضي.
The situation resembles what happened last year.
تصرفاته شَبِيهةٌ بتصرفات والده إلى حدٍ كبير.
His behavior closely resembles his father's.
رغم اختلاف الثقافتين، تظل بعض العادات شَبِيهةً إلى درجة تثير الدهشة.
Despite the two cultures' differences, some customs remain similar to a surprising degree.

Declension

CaseSingularPlural
Nominativeشَبِيهٌأَشْبَاهٌ
Genitiveشَبِيهٍأَشْبَاهٍ
Accusativeشَبِيهًاأَشْبَاهًا
Vocativeيا شَبِيهُيا أَشْبَاهُ

Word family

شَبَهresemblance, likeness
تَشابَهto resemble each other
مُشابِهsimilar, alike
اشتباهsuspicion, confusion between two things
أَشْباهlook-alikes; also used in compounds like 'quasi-'

Etymology

Shabīh comes from the Arabic root sh-b-h (ش ب ه), which carries the core idea of resemblance or likeness. The word follows the fa'īl pattern, common for adjectives describing a lasting quality, here the quality of looking or seeming like something else. The same root gives Arabic its everyday words for similarity, doubt, and mistaken identity, since things that resemble each other are easily confused.

Learn Arabic the way that sticks.
Every word here is a full Polylex card with native audio and spaced repetition, so 4,080 words actually move into long-term memory.
Start free

More Arabic words

فَسادcorruptionمُتَّسِعspaciousمُعَطَّلout of order, broken downتابُوتcoffinمَقْبِضhandleبَطّانِيَّةblanketتَطَوَّرto develop, to evolveأَثْنَىto praise, to commend