Learn ArabicA2 › ضَرْب

ضَرْب

striking, hitting; a blow /ˈdˤɑrb/

nounA2#772 most common

Also: a blow, a beating, multiplication (in arithmetic), a kind, a sort

Example sentences

الضَّرْبُ مَمْنُوعٌ.
Hitting is forbidden.
لَا أُحِبُّ الضَّرْبَ.
I do not like hitting.
تَعَلَّمْنَا جَدْوَلَ الضَّرْبِ فِي الْمَدْرَسَةِ.
We learned the multiplication table at school.
عَمَلِيَّةُ الضَّرْبِ أَصْعَبُ مِنَ الْجَمْعِ.
Multiplication is harder than addition.
يَخْتَصُّ الْبَنْكُ الْمَرْكَزِيُّ بِضَرْبِ الْعُمْلَةِ.
The central bank is responsible for minting the currency.
هٰذَا ضَرْبٌ مِنْ ضُرُوبِ الْجُنُونِ لَا يَقْبَلُهُ عَقْلٌ.
This is a kind of madness that no mind would accept.

Declension

CaseSingularPlural
Nominativeضَرْبٌضُرُوبٌ
Genitiveضَرْبٍضُرُوبٍ
Accusativeضَرْبًاضُرُوبًا
Vocativeضَرْبُضُرُوبُ

Word family

ضَرَبَ (ḍaraba)to hit, strike
مِضْرَب (miḍrab)racket, bat
ضَرِيبَة (ḍarība)tax
إِضْرَاب (iḍrāb)labor strike
ضَارِب (ḍārib)striking; striker

Etymology

The noun is the verbal noun (maṣdar) of the verb ḍaraba, 'to strike.' It comes from the Semitic root ḍ-r-b, whose core sense is hitting or beating. From that physical meaning Arabic extended the word to abstract uses, such as multiplication in arithmetic and 'a kind of' in everyday speech.

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

أَمَلhopeهَدَأto calm downشاءto want, to wish, to willفَوْرimmediacy; the instant (as in على الفور, at once)قَمّto sweep (up)تَصَرَّفto behave, to actآلَةmachineحَرَكَةmovement