Learn Arabic › B1 › كَتِف
كَتِف
shoulder /ˈka.tif/
nounB1#2455 most common
Also: shoulder blade, upper arm joint
Example sentences
كَتِفي يؤلمني.
My shoulder hurts.
وضعت الحقيبة على كَتِفها.
She put the bag on her shoulder.
حمل الأب ابنه على كَتِفيه.
The father carried his son on his shoulders.
هزّ كَتِفيه دون أن يجيب عن السؤال.
He shrugged his shoulders without answering the question.
أُصيب اللاعب بتمزق في عضلات الكَتِف خلال التدريب.
The player suffered a muscle tear in the shoulder during training.
استندت برأسها على كَتِف أخيها الأكبر وهي تبكي بصمت، تبحث عن شيء من الطمأنينة وسط الفوضى التي حلّت بالعائلة.
She rested her head on her older brother's shoulder, crying silently, seeking some reassurance amid the chaos that had befallen the family.
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | كَتِفٌ | أَكْتَافٌ |
| Genitive | كَتِفٍ | أَكْتَافٍ |
| Accusative | كَتِفًا | أَكْتَافًا |
| Vocative | يا كَتِفُ | يا أَكْتَافُ |
Word family
كَتَفَto tie someone's arms behind their back
كتّفto bind, handcuff (intensive form)
مكتوفbound, tied up; used in the idiom for being helpless
أكتافshoulders (plural)
كتيفةsmall bracket or shoulder-shaped fitting
Etymology
Katif comes from a common Semitic root for shoulder, not from Proto-Indo-European. The same consonants appear across the Semitic language family with the same core meaning. The root also gave rise to Arabic verbs meaning to bind someone's arms behind the back, since that action pins the shoulders together.
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