Learn Arabic › B2 › ضَفْدَع
ضَفْدَع
frog /ˈdˤafdaʕ/
nounB2#3597 most common
Also: toad (loosely, in casual usage)
Example sentences
هٰذَا ضَفْدَعٌ.
This is a frog.
الضَّفْدَعُ أَخْضَرُ.
The frog is green.
رَأَيْتُ ضَفْدَعًا فِي الْحَدِيقَةِ.
I saw a frog in the garden.
تَعِيشُ الضَّفَادِعُ فِي الْمَاءِ وَعَلَى الْيَابِسَةِ.
Frogs live in water and on land.
قَفَزَ الضَّفْدَعُ مِنَ الْبِرْكَةِ إِلَى الصَّخْرَةِ بِحَرَكَةٍ سَرِيعَةٍ.
The frog jumped from the pond to the rock in a quick motion.
تَتَحَوَّلُ يَرَقَةُ الضَّفْدَعِ إِلَى ضَفْدَعٍ بَالِغٍ بَعْدَ مَرَاحِلَ مِنَ التَّحَوُّلِ.
The frog's tadpole turns into an adult frog after several stages of metamorphosis.
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | ضَفْدَعٌ | ضَفَادِعُ |
| Genitive | ضَفْدَعٍ | ضَفَادِعَ |
| Accusative | ضَفْدَعًا | ضَفَادِعَ |
| Vocative | يَا ضَفْدَعُ | يَا ضَفَادِعُ |
Word family
ضِفْدَعَةa single frog, or a female frog
ضَفَادِعfrogs (plural)
ضِفْدَعِيّfrog-like, of or relating to frogs
رَجُل الضِّفْدَعfrogman, scuba diver
سِبَاحَة الضَّفْدَعbreaststroke (frog-style swimming)
Etymology
Arabic ضَفْدَع comes from a rare four-consonant root, ض-ف-د-ع, rather than the usual three-consonant Semitic pattern. Some comparative Semitists link it to Hebrew צְפַרְדֵּעַ (tsfardea), also meaning frog, which shares a similar irregular four-consonant shape. Both words may echo the frog's croak, a common pattern in words for noisy animals across languages. Because Arabic is a Semitic language, it has no Indo-European root and no PIE ancestor.
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
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