Learn Arabic › B2 › طَرِيف
طَرِيف
funny, amusing (curious, novel, quaint) /tˤɑˈriːf/
adjectiveB2#3978 most common
Also: curious, novel, witty (of a story or remark)
Example sentences
هذا كتابٌ طريفٌ.
This is an amusing book.
قرأتُ قصةً طريفةً أمس.
I read an amusing story yesterday.
حدثت لي مغامرة طريفة في السوق.
A funny little adventure happened to me at the market.
يملك جدّي أسلوبًا طريفًا في رواية الحكايات.
My grandfather has an amusing way of telling stories.
من الطريف أن نلاحظ كيف تتغيّر اللغة عبر الأجيال.
It is curious to note how language changes across generations.
رغم جدّية الموضوع، لم يخلُ حديثه من ملاحظات طريفة أضفت طابعًا خفيف الظل على النقاش.
Despite the seriousness of the topic, his talk was not without amusing remarks that gave the discussion a light-hearted tone.
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | طَرِيفٌ | طَرِيفونَ |
| Genitive | طَرِيفٍ | طَرِيفينَ |
| Accusative | طَرِيفًا | طَرِيفينَ |
| Vocative | يا طَرِيفُ | يا طَرِيفونَ |
Word family
طَرَف (ṭaraf)edge, extremity, side
طَرَافة (ṭarāfa)novelty, wittiness (the quality)
طُرْفة (ṭurfa)a witty anecdote, a curio
اِسْتَطْرَفَ (istaṭrafa)to find something novel or amusing
أَطْرَفَ (aṭrafa)to amuse someone with something novel
Etymology
طريف comes from the Arabic root ط ر ف (ṭ-r-f), whose core sense is edge or extremity, as in طرف (ṭaraf, an edge or a limb). Something at the edge is untried and new, and Arabic extended that spatial sense to cover freshness and novelty. From there the adjective طريف came to describe what strikes a listener as original or curious, and by extension what is funny or entertaining. The same root gives طرفة, a witty anecdote, and استطرف, to find something delightfully novel.
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