Learn Arabic › B2 › كَمَن
كَمَن
to lie in ambush /ˈka.ma.na/
verbB2#3241 most common
Also: to lurk, to lie in wait, to be latent, hidden
Example sentences
هُوَ كَمَنَ خَلْفَ الشَّجَرَةِ.
He lurked behind the tree.
كَمَنَ الأَسَدُ لِلْفَرِيسَةِ.
The lion lay in wait for its prey.
كَمَنَ الجُنُودُ فِي الغَابَةِ يَنْتَظِرُونَ العَدُوَّ.
The soldiers lay in ambush in the forest, waiting for the enemy.
يَكْمُنُ الخَطَرُ الحَقِيقِيُّ وَراءَ هذِهِ الكَلِماتِ البَسِيطَةِ.
The real danger lurks behind these simple words.
كَمَنَتِ الشُّرْطَةُ لِلْمُهَرِّبِينَ طَوَالَ اللَّيْلِ قَبْلَ أَنْ تُلْقِيَ القَبْضَ عَلَيْهِمْ.
The police lay in wait for the smugglers all night before arresting them.
عَلَى الرَّغْمِ مِنْ هُدُوءِ الوَضْعِ الظَّاهِرِيِّ، كَانَ يَكْمُنُ فِي دَاخِلِهِ غَضَبٌ لَمْ يَسْتَطِعْ كَبْتَهُ.
Despite the calm surface of the situation, an anger he could not suppress lurked inside him.
Conjugation
| Present Active | Simple Past Active | Simple Future Active | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1sg | أَكْمُنُ | كَمَنْتُ | سَأَكْمُنُ |
| 2sg | تَكْمُنُ | كَمَنْتَ | سَتَكْمُنُ |
| 3sg | يَكْمُنُ | كَمَنَ | سَيَكْمُنُ |
| 1pl | نَكْمُنُ | كَمَنَّا | سَنَكْمُنُ |
| 2pl | تَكْمُنُونَ | كَمَنْتُمْ | سَتَكْمُنُونَ |
| 3pl | يَكْمُنُونَ | كَمَنُوا | سَيَكْمُنُونَ |
Word family
كَمِينambush
كامِنlatent, hidden, dormant
مَكْمَنhiding place, lair
كُمُونlatency, the state of lying hidden
Etymology
Kamana comes from the Semitic triliteral root k-m-n, which carries the core sense of hiding, lying dormant, or waiting concealed. Classical Arabic dictionaries apply it both literally, to a hunter, soldier, or animal that hides to spring a surprise, and abstractly, to something latent inside a person or a situation. The related noun kamin, meaning ambush, and the adjective kamin, meaning latent, show the same shift from concrete hiding to hidden potential. This root is native to Arabic and not traced to an Indo-European source.
Learn Arabic the way that sticks.
Every word here is a full Polylex card with native audio and spaced repetition, so 4,080 words actually move into long-term memory.
Start free
Every word here is a full Polylex card with native audio and spaced repetition, so 4,080 words actually move into long-term memory.
Start free