Learn Arabic › A2 › عَفْو
عَفْو
pardon /ˈʕafw/
nounA2#1001 most common
Also: forgiveness, amnesty, clemency
Example sentences
عَفْواً، هَلْ يُمْكِنُكَ مُساعَدَتي؟
Excuse me, can you help me?
طَلَبَ الرَّجُلُ الْعَفْوَ مِنْ صَديقِهِ.
The man asked his friend for forgiveness.
أَصْدَرَ الرَّئيسُ عَفْواً عَنِ السُّجَناءِ.
The president issued a pardon for the prisoners.
الْعَفْوُ عِنْدَ الْمَقْدِرَةِ مِنْ صِفاتِ الْكِرامِ.
Forgiveness when one holds the power to punish is among the traits of the noble.
قَرَّرَتِ الْمَحْكَمَةُ مَنْحَهُ الْعَفْوَ بَعْدَ سَنَواتٍ مِنَ السِّجْنِ.
The court decided to grant him a pardon after years in prison.
يَرى الْفَيْلَسوفُ أَنَّ الْعَفْوَ لا يَعْني النِّسْيانَ، بَلْ تَجاوُزاً واعِياً عَنِ الْخَطَأِ.
The philosopher holds that pardon does not mean forgetting, but a conscious overlooking of the wrong.
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | عَفْوٌ | None |
| Genitive | عَفْوٍ | None |
| Accusative | عَفْواً | None |
| Vocative | يا عَفْوُ | None |
Word family
عَفاto pardon, forgive, efface
عَفْواًyou're welcome; excuse me
عافِيةhealth, well-being
عَفُوّall-forgiving (an epithet of God)
اِسْتِعْفاءresignation; a request to be excused
Etymology
عَفْو is the verbal noun of عَفا, whose core sense is to efface or wipe away, as wind erases tracks in the sand. From effacing a trace came the sense of cancelling a debt or an offense, and so pardon and forgiveness. The same root yields عافِية, health, the state of being spared harm.
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