Learn Arabic › B2 › شَفْر
شَفْر
edge of the eyelid /ˈʃafr/
nounB2#3539 most common
Also: edge or blade (of a sword or knife), brink, rim (of anything)
Example sentences
شَفْرُ هٰذَا السِّكِّينِ حَادٌّ جِدًّا.
The edge of this knife is very sharp.
غَسَلَتِ الأُمُّ أَشْفَارَ عَيْنَيْ طِفْلِهَا بِمَاءٍ دَافِئٍ.
The mother washed the edges of her child's eyelids with warm water.
يُنَظِّفُ طَبِيبُ العُيُونِ شَفْرَ الجَفْنِ قَبْلَ الفَحْصِ.
The eye doctor cleans the edge of the eyelid before the examination.
وَقَفَ عِنْدَ شَفْرِ الهاوِيَةِ وَنَظَرَ إِلَى الأَسْفَلِ بِحَذَرٍ.
He stood at the edge of the abyss and looked down carefully.
تَتَوَرَّمُ أَشْفَارُ الجُفُونِ أَحْيَانًا بِسَبَبِ الْتِهَابٍ بَكْتِيرِيٍّ يُعْرَفُ طِبِّيًّا بِالْتِهَابِ الشَّفْرِ.
The edges of the eyelids sometimes swell from a bacterial inflammation known medically as blepharitis.
عَبْرَ القُرُونِ، ظَلَّ شَفْرُ ذٰلِكَ السَّيْفِ الأُسْطُورِيِّ حَادًّا بِفِعْلِ سِرٍّ فِي طَرِيقَةِ صَقْلِهِ، حَتَّى غَدَا يُضْرَبُ بِهِ المَثَلُ فِي الشِّعْرِ القَدِيمِ.
Across the centuries, the edge of that legendary sword stayed sharp because of a secret in how it was polished, until it became proverbial in old poetry.
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | شَفْرٌ | أَشْفَارٌ |
| Genitive | شَفْرٍ | أَشْفَارٍ |
| Accusative | شَفْراً | أَشْفَاراً |
| Vocative | يَا شَفْرُ | يَا أَشْفَارُ |
Word family
شَفْرَةblade; razor blade
شَفِيرedge, brink (of a cliff or abyss)
مِشْفَرthick lip (of a camel, or a coarse human lip)
أَشْفَارplural of shafr: the edges of the eyelids
Etymology
Shafr comes from the Arabic triliteral root sh-f-r, a Semitic root tied to the idea of a thin, bounding edge. Classical dictionaries define it two ways: the edge of a blade and the margin of the eyelid where the lashes grow. Over time the related noun shafra narrowed to mean specifically a blade, the sense still heard today in the word for a razor blade.
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