Learn Arabic › A2 › ظَلام
ظَلام
darkness /ðˤaˈlaːm/
nounA2#1159 most common
Also: the dark, gloom, obscurity
Example sentences
أَخافُ مِنَ الظَّلامِ.
I am afraid of the dark.
لا أَسْتَطيعُ القِراءَةَ في الظَّلامِ.
I cannot read in the dark.
حَلَّ الظَّلامُ بَعْدَ غُروبِ الشَّمْسِ.
Darkness fell after the sun set.
اِنْقَطَعَ التَّيّارُ الكَهْرَبائِيُّ فَغَرِقَتِ المَدينَةُ في الظَّلامِ.
The power went out, and the city sank into darkness.
في ظَلامِ اللَّيْلِ تَبْدو الأَصْواتُ أَكْثَرَ وُضوحًا.
In the darkness of the night, sounds seem clearer.
لَمْ يَكُنِ الظَّلامُ الَّذي خَيَّمَ على البِلادِ ظَلامًا عابِرًا، بَلْ كانَ نَذيرًا بِزَمَنٍ عَصيبٍ.
The darkness that settled over the country was not a passing darkness, but an omen of a hard time.
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | ظَلامٌ (ẓalāmun) | — (mass noun, no standard plural) |
| Genitive | ظَلامٍ (ẓalāmin) | — |
| Accusative | ظَلامًا (ẓalāman) | — |
| Vocative | يا ظَلامُ (yā ẓalāmu) | — |
Word family
ظُلْمَة (ẓulma)darkness, gloom
مُظْلِم (muẓlim)dark, gloomy
أَظْلَمَ (ʾaẓlama)to grow dark, to darken
ظَلامِيّ (ẓalāmī)obscurantist, reactionary
Etymology
The word comes from the Semitic root ẓ-l-m, which carries the sense of being dark and, by extension, of doing wrong. The same root yields ظُلْم (ẓulm), 'injustice', on the idea that wrong is done in the dark. Arabic shapes the root on the faʿāl pattern to name the state of darkness itself. Related roots appear across the Semitic family.
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