Learn Arabic › B1 › قَلْعَة
قَلْعَة
castle /ˈqalʕa/
nounB1#2147 most common
Also: fortress, citadel, stronghold
Example sentences
هٰذِهِ قَلْعَةٌ كَبِيرَةٌ.
This is a big castle.
زُرْنا القَلْعَةَ يَومَ الجُمُعَةِ.
We visited the castle on Friday.
تَقَعُ القَلْعَةُ عَلى قِمَّةِ الجَبَلِ.
The castle stands on the mountain summit.
بَنى السُّلطانُ هٰذِهِ القَلْعَةَ لِلدِّفاعِ عَنِ المَدينَةِ.
The sultan built this castle to defend the city.
صَمَدَتِ القَلْعَةُ أَمامَ الحِصارِ عِدَّةَ أَشهُرٍ قَبلَ أَن تَسقُطَ.
The castle held out against the siege for several months before it fell.
لا تَزالُ أَسوارُ القَلْعَةِ المُتَهالِكَةُ تَشهَدُ عَلى عَظَمَةِ حِقبَةٍ غابِرَةٍ.
The castle's crumbling walls still bear witness to the grandeur of a bygone age.
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | قَلْعَةٌ | قِلاعٌ |
| Genitive | قَلْعَةٍ | قِلاعٍ |
| Accusative | قَلْعَةً | قِلاعاً |
| Vocative | يا قَلْعَةُ | يا قِلاعُ |
Word family
قِلاعcastles, fortresses (plural)
قَلَعَto uproot, pull out
مِقْلاعsling, catapult
قَلّاعone who uproots
Etymology
The word comes from the Arabic triliteral root ق-ل-ع (q-l-ʿ), tied to the sense of a fortified height or stronghold. It entered Iberian languages during Muslim rule in Spain. The Arabic al-qalʿa, meaning the fortress, gave the Spanish place name Alcalá.
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