Learn Arabic › B2 › عائِق
عائِق
obstacle /ˈʕaː.ʔiq/
nounB2#3801 most common
Also: impediment, hindrance, handicap
Example sentences
هذا عائق كبير.
This is a big obstacle.
واجهت عائقاً في طريقي.
I faced an obstacle on my way.
يعتبر نقص المال عائقاً أمام تطوير المشروع.
The lack of money is considered an obstacle to developing the project.
تغلبنا على جميع العوائق التي واجهتنا خلال الرحلة.
We overcame all the obstacles we faced during the trip.
تشكل البيروقراطية عائقاً رئيسياً أمام الإصلاح الاقتصادي.
Bureaucracy forms a major obstacle to economic reform.
لم تكن العوائق اللغوية والثقافية لتحول دون تحقيق التفاهم بين الشعبين.
The linguistic and cultural obstacles did not prevent mutual understanding between the two peoples.
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | عائقٌ | عوائقُ |
| Genitive | عائقٍ | عوائقَ |
| Accusative | عائقاً | عوائقَ |
| Vocative | يا عائقُ | يا عوائقُ |
Word family
عاقto hinder, to hold back
إعاقةdisability, hindrance
معاقdisabled, handicapped
تعويقobstruction, delaying
عوائقobstacles (plural)
Etymology
عائِق is the active participle of the verb عاق ("to hinder, to hold back"), built on the Semitic root ع-و-ق. The root's middle radical و is a weak letter, so it surfaces as a long ا in this pattern, giving the shape فاعل that Arabic uses to mean "the one doing the action," here "the thing that hinders." Arabic is a Semitic language, not Indo-European, so it has no Proto-Indo-European root.
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